Washington Wizards should consider signing this Slam Dunk champion for national attention
By Cem Yolbulan
In recent years, the Washington Wizards had a national relevance problem. After seasons of mediocrity and a lack of exciting young players, the Washington Wizards had lost the interest of national media and NBA fans. This offseason, they took a step in the right direction by choosing to rebuild and bringing in a slew of intriguing young prospects. A cherry on top of this first-time-in-a-while exciting Wizards team would be the addition of a nationally popular figure like Mac McClung.
The 24-year-old combo guard already had a cult following thanks to his breathtaking highlight videos that regularly go viral online. However, it wasn’t until the 2023 Slam Dunk Contest that he became an icon. He scored a perfect 50 on 3 of his 4 dunks and obliterated the competition with a dominantly acrobatic performance. This catapulted him to global fame despite having only played in two NBA games before that point.
McClung wasn’t able to turn that momentum into success on the court in the NBA and continued to spend most of his time with the Philadelphia 76ers’ G League affiliate. However, he is still young, talented, and extremely athletic.
Mac McClung is not only one of the most exciting dunkers in the world, but he is also a hometown hero. After breaking every single scoring record imaginable for Virginia high school basketball, he played for the Georgetown Hoyas in Washington, DC for two seasons. He still holds the all-time scoring and single-game scoring records in Virginia high school basketball history. Bringing him in would create a significant buzz in the DMV area.
The Washington Wizards currently have one more two-way contract slot available, and McClung is a free agent. Signing a player of McClung’s reputation to that slot would ignite the popularity of both the Wizards and their G League affiliate Capital City Go-Go. There are certainly worse ways to use your 18th roster spot.
