SAN FRANCISCO >> Each year, when the NBA All-Star Game rolls around, rather than watch a mean-nothing game that’s void of defense, I look for other, more fun things to do, like have a root canal.

But, I’m a fan of All-Star Saturday Night. I usually don’t watch start to finish, but I make sure to scour social media for highlights or tune into ESPN before going to bed to get my fix of the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest.

I’ve witnessed just two slam dunk contests live in my life, both took place in San Francisco. The first time, roughly three decades ago, I was a 20-something-year-old competing in a 3-on-3 Hoop-It-Up Tournament. Between games, they held a dunk contest with a cash payout to the winner.

The winner jumped over a motorcycle on one of his acrobatic dunks. I watched in awe. I don’t remember his name, nor his face, just his feat, and the fact that my team had to face his in an upcoming semifinal for our division.

The other took place Saturday at the Chase Center. The winner jumped over a car. A damn car!

He grabbed the ball from a friend, who half his body sticking through the sun roof, and rotated 180 degrees for an unbelievable finish at the rim.

“I think it’s important to start with maybe your best dunk,” McClung said. “I’ve always thought that in the contest, to get the fans on your side. Then I play it by ear. But you try to have as many 50s as you can.”

Thirty years from now, when I’m older, wrinkled, and yelling at kids to get off my lawn, I believe I’ll remember Mac McClung’s name, his baby face and headband, and feats: First player to win three straight Slam Dunk Contest titles.

I’ll remember the perfect scores, “50” after “50” after “50” after “50.” There wasn’t a cheapie in the bunch, and they were all executed to perfection.

I’ll remember that three other competitors, 6-foot-6 Stephon Castle of San Antonio, 6-6 Andre Jackson Jr. of Milwaukee and 6-10 Matas Buzelis of Chicago towered over the 6-2 McClung, who stars for the Orlando Magic’s G League affiliate, the Osceola Magic.

Props and gimmicks go a long way in the Dunk Contest, and so does freakish ability.

That car dunk came on his second try, but he nailed his other three dunks on his first try.

Dunking over a friend with a 180-degree rotation? 50.

Castle made the final and turned up the heat with a between-the-legs, left-to-right hand finish for a 49.6.

McClung didn’t flinch. This was child’s play.

One of his friend’s got on a ladder and held a ball, and another stood on a hoverboard in the key, circling while holding a ball above his head. McClung sped in, leaped over one friend, grabbed the ball with his right hand while elevating, grabbed the ball from the friend on the ladder and dunked it with his left hand, and finished big with the ball in his right hand for a double-dunk finish. 50.

Are you kidding me?

Castle closed with a behind-the-back pass to himself while in flight and finished thunderously. 50.

What could top that? Leaping over a Beach Blanket Babylon performer who was wearing one the production’s excessively tall hats?

McClung did the next best thing. He brought Evan Mobley, a 6-11 forward/center for Cleveland, to the floor and had him stand in the key. And if that wasn’t enough, he had Mobley stand on a platform while holding the ball atop his head. McClung raced in, grabbed the ball, and tapped it on the front of the rim before throwing down. The place went bonkers. 50, another perfect score.

McClung said it took a village to pull off his three-peat.

“I want to shout out to Isaiah Rivera,” he said. “He let me borrow his car. That’s a brave thing to do. And the first probably 45 minutes, I was like, ‘I can’t do this dunk. I’m landing on the car, I can’t do it.’ Then Chuck (Millan), the guy I work with for dunks, he helped me. He just was like, just jump over the car. I was like, ‘It’s not that easy, man.’ They taught me the technique, how to do it. We got it like three or four times in a row, and I felt confident doing it. So shout-out to them.”

McClung hinted that this was his last Dunk Contest.

If it is, fans will rely on their memories for replays for highlight-reel dunk after highlight-reel dunk. They’ll have some help, too, because each year, right about when I get my annual root canal, replays of McClung’s performance will be flashing on TV sets around the globe.

This one was that memorable, that historic.

His showing helped Bay Area basketball fans forget two other crash-and-burn finishes from Golden State Warriors.

Miami Heat All-Star Tyler Herro outshot the Warriors’ Buddy Hield in the final of the 2025 Starry 3-Point Contest and unseated Milwaukee Bucks’ Damian Lillard as champion. Hield led the field after scoring a whopping 31 points in the first round, but he missed his first seven shots in the final before closing strong. He finished one point shy of Herro.

Hield was grateful to be invited to the event, but his face told another story.

“Tough one. Bad start,” he said. “It’s all good, though. Bad start, though. … I’m just disappointed I lost.”

Cavaliers stars Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell won the Skills Challenge. They beat the Warriors’ Draymond Green and Moses Moody in the final. Both Warriors tore through the course in the first round, but Green missed some passes and couldn’t buy a shot in the second round, which cost his team precious time.

Moody stood behind Green after their runner-up finish.

“They know that’s my dog,” Moody said. “He’s going to show up when the lights is on, he’s going to show up when we need him to. I don’t need him in the Skills Challenge, I need him in the playoffs.”