3x Slam Dunk Contest champ Mac McClung has made $178,000 more on All-Star Weekends than his NBA career

Mac McClung has been hailed as the hooper who revived the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, and his participation in the All-Star Weekend event has also helped him earn more money than he did in his NBA career.

Coming in as a G League representative, McClung secured his third consecutive Slam Dunk Contest title on Saturday, defeating NBA players Stephon Castle, Matas Buzelis and Andre Jackson Jr. All three of his titles have come while playing in the G League.

NBA stats enthusiast Keerthika Uthayakumar took to X (formerly Twitter) to highlight that McClung has actually earned more from dunk contests than from the NBA. She noted that his dunk contest winnings total $310,000, compared to $132,101 in NBA earnings, according to Spotrac.

However, Spotrac does not factor in two-way contract earnings, meaning McClung’s actual career earnings are higher, as NBA insider Marc Stein pointed out.

Mac McClung went undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft and has spent most of his career in the G League, beginning with the South Bay Lakers in 2021-22.

He made his dunk contest debut in 2023 while playing for the Delaware Blue Coats and has since competed as a member of the Osceola Magic.

This year, McClung went viral after jumping over a car for his first dunk, kicking off a night of perfect 50s.

Mac McClung inspires NBA superstars to consider dunk contest

After being crowned this year’s dunk contest champion, Mac McClung hinted that this might be his last appearance — unless the NBA really wants him back.

“This might be it for me, but we’ll see,” he said. “If they want me back bad enough, I’ll think about it.”

Following his show-stopping performance, two NBA superstars took to X to express their admiration and hint at possibly joining next year’s contest.

Ja Morant tweeted:

“Mac might make me decide to dunk.”

MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo then quote-tweeted Morant, adding:

“If you do it. I’ll do it with you 💯”

The last All-Star to participate in the dunk contest was Jaylen Brown last year, who finished as the runner-up to McClung.

During his post-contest interview, McClung said he was simply grateful to be a part of the All-Star festivities. He also competed for Team G League in the Rising Stars Challenge.

“I was extremely honored to be a part of this weekend. The biggest thing is I genuinely love this contest. I’m very honored to be here and it’s very appreciative.”