Shaq’s Dunkman World Championship Is Up for Grabs. And the Money Is Life-Changing.

Isaiah Rivera was just like every teenager growing up when he began playing basketball in his driveway.

“When I was 13 and my dad got me my first basketball hoop, we built it and I literally lowered it to eight feet and I would pretend I was Shaq,” Rivera, who is now 28, told Sports Illustrated this week. “I would pretend I was Michael Jordan, Vince Carter and Shaq. I would back down an imaginary defender, do a drop step and do his signature two-hand dunk that is now his ‘Dunkman’ logo.”

On Tuesday night, Rivera will not only once again dunk in front of Shaquille O’Neal, but also if he does it well enough, he will be handed a $500,000 check from one of his childhood heroes. And what a moment that would be.

Rivera is one of eight dunkers left standing in Shaq’s Dunkman league that will be holding its world championship on Tuesday night in Atlanta. The event will be broadcast live on TNT, TBS, truTV, and Max, and the winner will go home with life-changing money. Mac McClung, who has won the NBA All-Star Dunk Contest three times, is the No. 1 seed heading into the finals.

“It’s surreal now getting to interact with Shaq and having him be a part of this,” said Rivera, who has been competing in professional dunking for years.

Pro dunker Isaiah Rivera explains why competing in @SHAQ's DUNKMAN league is a dream come true 🙌 pic.twitter.com/mGTgHZT1do
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) August 25, 2026

Dunkman started its inaugural season earlier this summer with 24 dunkers who competed in four group stages. The winner of each group earned a trip to the finals, as did four wild-card dunkers to round out the championship group.

“Since the professional athletes don’t take pride in the dunk contest anymore the best dunkers in the world are not [not in the NBA],” Shaq told Sports Illustrated last April. “The landscape has changed, as a basketball fan the best dunkers were always some of the best players in the world but not anymore. We want to crown the best dunkers. The goal of the league is to leave no doubt who the greatest dunker in the world is.”

The experience of competing in Shaq’s new league has been a special for one for each dunker.

“This whole thing is a pinch-me moment,” said Joel Henry, a 34-year-old professional dunker from England who earned a spot in the finals as a wild card. “I’m still talking to myself saying, ‘Yo is this actually happening?’ Me being from Great Britain, being here with Shaquille O’Neal. His aura is just incredible. I’m looking at his hands, looking at his feet and thinking wow he’s actually talking to me, it’s amazing.”

Professional dunkers from all over the world have been able to show off their ridiculous dunking skills on the biggest of stages in the sport this summer in Shaq’s new league. Now the eight remaining dunkers will battle it out for $500,000. That amount of money is something that won’t be lost on any of the competitors Tuesday night.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STAGE IS SET 🔥

8 dunkers will compete for the Dunkman title and $500,000 😮‍💨💰 pic.twitter.com/TtmMt5fHQZ
— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) August 12, 2026

“The biggest contest I’ve done before this I think was $50K,” Rivera said. “The most I’ve personally won in a contest was $10K. So the fact this is going to be 50 times that, it’s kind of hard to process. To have all that money in one go, it feels fake. I try not to think about it too much because I think you can psych yourself out pretty easily if you start thinking about what that can do. But it’s life-changing money for anyone, whether you chose to invest it or pay debts off whatever you decided to do with that money it can help anybody out. It still feels fake that we’re about to dunk for $500K.”

It’s not fake, though. It’s very real. And on Tuesday night the first champion will be crowned.

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