Mac McClung’s name has become synonymous with the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest. The 27-year-old is the reigning champion of the contest. In fact, not just that, he’s won the title three times in a row. While the point guard’s journey in the league has been bumpy, when it comes to dunking, he’s second to none.

However, despite the Chicago Bulls recently giving the former Georgetown and Texas Tech standout an opportunity with a two-way contract, he won’t be able to showcase his skills in front of the crowd that is set to gather in Los Angeles in a few days. Nonetheless, before we know the reason for that, let’s understand what the contest is all about.

What is the NBA Slam Dunk Contest?

Well, before we get into the why, Mac McClung will not be participating in the Slam Dunk Contest. Let’s understand how it works. The contest is an annual competition held during the infamous NBA All-Star Weekend. Usually, four players are selected for the event, after which they participate in two rounds.

The first round consists of each player performing two dunks, which are judged by a panel of five judges who score each dunk on a scale. Then, the two players with the highest scores from the previous round advance to the final round, and the highest scorer there wins the trophy. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s take a look at Mac McClung’s past.

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Who is Mac McClung? The face of the Dunk Contest

Mac McClung, as we mentioned, is the three-time defending champion of the coveted Slam Dunk Contest. That should be enough for you to understand why he is referred to as the face of the event. Nonetheless, apart from his dunking skills, the 27-year-old also just recently inked a two-way contract with the Chicago Bulls.

Will Mac McClung be in the 2026 Dunk Contest?

This season, the four players selected for the contest are Carter Bryant, Jaxson Hayes, Keshad Johnson, and Jase Richardson. You might’ve already noticed that this list doesn’t include Mac McClung, the face of the Slam Dunk Contest. The 27-year-old Chicago Bull two-way guard won’t be taking part in this year’s event.

“Not going to be 4 in a row,” Marcus McClung, Mac McClung’s father, wrote in a text message to ESPN. “Not one reason that I could say that was the main reason. In my opinion, it is more like a bunch of reasons that just point to him not doing it.”

Well, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as the guard himself told ESPN after last year’s emphatic win that he was “not sure” whether he would be taking part in this season’s event. However, on the contrary, his recent statements have been quite surprising.

“I think there was just back and forth of us being like this, and then they were calling me, being like ‘People didn’t want to do it if I was doing it’, and I thought it’s best if I just sit out this year and let it be, no matter what,” he recently told HoopsHype.

This is a huge bummer for the fans, as he arguably has single-handedly saved the Dunk Contest for the last few years. So, it’s hard to understand why several NBA players were seemingly against his participation. Was it because he was a two-way player? No one truly knows, as we move ahead for now on.

Does Mac McClung get paid for the Dunk Contest?

The excitement that once surrounded the Slam Dunk Contest has faded, but that hasn’t stopped the league from awarding the winner heavily. The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) calls for $100,000 to be awarded to the winner. Second place takes home a hefty $50,000, and the other two get $25,000 each.

However, apart from that, no other player, including Mac McClung, gets paid separately for participating in the Slam Dunk Contest. While to the stars of the league, this might not be life-changing money, it surely is a great way to make an extra bit of cash for players like McClung, as we eagerly await this year’s edition.