Thunder’s Hamidou Diallo Dazzles in Slam Dunk Competition

NBA All-Star Saturday Night 2019 concluded with a quartet of high-flying youngsters in the AT&T Slam Dunk contest. Knicks guard Dennis Smith Jr. headlined a field that included one other second-year player alongside two rookies. The group of unheralded competitors helped inject new life into an event that has seemingly lost steam since Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon last took the stage.

Smith met Hamidou Diallo in the final round of the competition. Both guards pulled out all the stops throughout the competition, but Diallo’s second dunk brought the house down. Both players got over jitters in the final round to produce memorable dunks. In the end, Diallo’s breakout performance was too much for Smith to overcome.

2019 AT&T Slam Dunk Competitors

• Dennis Smith Jr. | Knicks
• John Collins | Hawks
• Miles Bridges | Hornets
• Hamidou Diallo | Thunder

Slam Dunk Judges

• Alonzo Mourning
• A’Ja Wilson
• Candace Parker
• David Thompson
• Dee Brown

Here are the highlights from Saturday’s final competition.

• Collins got the action underway with this backboard-clutching dunk.

• Diallo got a little help from teammate Russell Westbrook on his opening dunk.

• After some early jitters, Smith delivered this high-flying jam.

• Bridges recovered from a poor opening dunk to deliver a thunderous finish in a throwback Larry Johnson jersey.

• Collins’ second dunk featured a replica airplane and a group of pilots. Lucky for Collins, the tail of the plane broke free on contact.

• Smith pulled recording artist J. Cole from the crowd for his second dunk.

• Diallo etched his name into Slam Dunk Competition history by clearing Shaquille O’Neal to earn a perfect 50 from the judges.

• The final round between Smith and Diallo finally got rolling with this slam over Heat legend Dwyane Wade.

• Diallo completed his night with another memorable dunk, which put the competition on ice.