High-Flying Anfernee Simons Kisses His Way To Dunk Contest Crown
Pucker up, Portland. Anfernee Simons is basketball's newest dunk champion.
The Portland Trail Blazers guard outdid Obi Toppin and Cassius Stanley in Sunday's AT&T Slam Dunk contest, becoming the first player in franchise history to win the event.
Simons used a prop for his first dunk, balancing the ball on a Nerf-style mini rim affixed to the top of the backboard's square. Coming in from the baseline, he showed off his ridiculous hops by grabbing the ball at 12 feet and finishing with authority.
The result from judges? A 46, between initial efforts of Stanley and Toppin.
Simons paid homage to a legend for his second-round effort, donning a retro Tracy McGrady jersey en route to a double-pump, 360-degree self-lob. McGrady pulled off the very same dunk, but spinning the other way, in the epic 2000 dunk contest.
The judges loved Simons' second-round slam even more, giving him a 49 and a spot in the final round.
Simons' first two dunks totaled 95 points, one more than Toppin's. After the Knicks rookie went between the legs from outside the dotted line, an impressive but largely forgettable dunk, the stage was set for Simons to become the league's dunking king.
All it took was a kiss for the judges to crown him.
Shortly after he was selected for the dunk contest, Simons expressed excitement about the possibility of introducing his high-flying exploits to a worldwide audience.
"It’s pretty cool because I’m not really known around the league as a dunker,” he told Trail Blazers reporter Casey Holdahl. “That lets me know that kind of word of mouth kind of helped me out a lot, people advocating for me behind the scenes. It’s pretty cool that people behind the scenes are vouching for me and wanted me to put my name out there and show what I can really do."
After fawning over his mind-blowing, kiss-blowing aerial antics, it's safe to say basketball fans across the globe know a lot more about Simons now.