Mac McClung Shines During All-Star Weekend

After another overall disappointing All-Star weekend, there was one bright spot to it all for the NBA and the Philadelphia 76ers. Mac McClung. 

Even if you decided to take a break from being angry from the still-crushing Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl loss or turn off your sports. There's no way you haven’t heard about McClung putting on a show Saturday night in Salt Lake City. McClung, the recently signed/promoted two-way guard for the Sixers from their G-League affiliate Delaware Blue Coats, may have saved the dunk contest as many have said after his performance. While this one showing was really good... let’s not get carried away. 

Mac McClung was able to steal the show by busting out a variety of different dunks. He wowed and surprised the curious crowd with how this G-Leaguer will stack up against the more well-known pros.  I mean, c’mon -- he has played in just two NBA games during his young career. Both in 2021 split between the Lakers and Bulls. There’s no way he’ll pull this off, right? Well... he had other ideas. From jumping over two people with one perched on the shoulders of the other while holding the basketball. Tapping the rock on the backboard and then completing the clean dunk in reverse. To what looked like a 560 flush that was once again clean. The 6-foot-2 guard simply found a way to bring some energy, enjoyment and most importantly eyes to an event that has been slowly fading in terms of importance. 

The Blue Coats' leading scorer has brought some good attention on himself. Landing a new sneaker deal with PUMA basketball. Winning $100,000 for taking the trophy and for the on-floor basketball part of things. He has many wondering why he isn’t playing for the Sixers. Good problems for him and the organization. While he may not actually see minutes for the big club, he brought good attention to the NBA, his team, and most importantly him. We’ll see where this takes him going forward. 

As far as All-Star weekend and the Dunk Contest this has nothing to do with McClung. But everything to do with the league needing to figure out how to correct the problem. 

Thursday afternoon marked the NBA’s Trade Deadline with a ton of movement across the league. Beyond the trades themselves, this day always marks a clash of two titans, Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania, in the battle of breaking the deals first.

Here’s a look at each deal and who reported on it first, organized by the Sixers first and then in chronological order starting Thursday at midnight.

Sixers acquire: Jalen McDaniels, two second round picks Hornets acquire: 2023 second round pick, Svi Mykhailiuk

Trail Blazers acquire: Matisse Thybulle

Woj or Shams? Woj

https://975thefanatic.com/2023/02/09/sixers-move-matisse-thybulle-in-a-3-way-trade/

Raptors acquire: Jakob Poeltl

Spurs acquire: Khem Birch, a protected 2024 first-round pick, and two second-round picks

Woj or Shams? Woj (ESPN had a graphic ready for him too)

Suns acquire: Kevin Durant, TJ Warren

Nets acquire: Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first round picks and a 2028 pick swap

Woj or Shams? This is an interesting one. Woj had the report that the deal was close, but technically, it was Shams that had the final report of the deal and its details first. Point for Shams.

Celtics acquire: Mike Muscala

Thunder acquire: Justin Jackson and two second-round picks

Woj or Shams? Shams.

Bucks acquire: Jae Crowder

Nets acquire: Five (!!) second-round picks

Pacers acquire: Jordan Nwora and two second-round picks

Woj or Shams? Shams.

Nuggets acquire: Thomas Bryant

Lakers acquire: Davon Reed and three second-round picks

Woj or Shams? Woj (he even got an Adam Schefter retweet)

Pacers acquire: George Hill and a second-round pick

Bucks “acquire”: A free roster spot and free up $4 million

Woj or Shams? Woj.

Clippers acquire: Bones Hyland

Nuggets acquire: Clippers’ 2024 and 2025 second-round picks

Woj or Shams? Woj

Suns acquire: Darius Bazley

Thunder acquire: Dario Saric

Woj or Shams? Shams.

Warriors acquire: Five (!!) second-round picks, Kevin Knox

Pistons acquire: James Wiseman

Hawks acquire: Saddiq Bey

Woj or Shams? Woj.

Hawks acquire: Justin Holiday and Frank Kaminsky

Rockets acquire: Garrison Matthews and Bruno Fernando

Woj or Shams? Woj.

Clippers acquire: Eric Gordon, three second-round picks

Rockets acquire: John Wall, Danny Green, pick swap

Grizzlies acquire: Luke Kennard

Woj or Shams? Shams tweeted about the trade first. He also provided the Kennard and Wall pieces of the trade first. Woj did, however, report on the second-round picks and Danny Green. Tim MacMahon gave us the pick swap. Shams got more details first so we will credit him.

Lakers acquire: Mo Bamba

Magic acquire: Patrick Beverley, second round “compensation”

Woj or Shams? Shams. Shams got this by so much that he accidentally tweeted that Beverley was being traded by the Clippers, not the Lakers, in his first attempt at this tweet.

Pelicans acquire: Josh Richardson

Spurs acquire: Devonte’ Graham and four (!!) second-round picks

Woj or Shams? Shams.

Clippers acquire: Mason Plumlee

Hornets acquire: Reggie Jackson

Woj or Shams? Woj.

Warriors acquire: Gary Payton II

Trail Blazers acquire: Five (!!) second picks, Kevin Knox

Woj or Shams? Woj.

Woj: 9

Shams: 7

Second-round picks traded: 38, pending the “second-round compensation” that the Magic received.