During the finale of season 1 of TNT's The Dunk King, 5'5 Porter Maberry won $100,000 after jumping over 7'1 Shaquille O'Neal and winning the biggest budget non-NBA dunk contest ever. One of the losers in the event was international dunk phenom Guy Dupuy aka The Frequent Flyer aka a guy who is near impossible to beat.

In the finale of season 2, Guy not only found redemption by beating Porter and Jordan "Mission Impossible" Kilganon aka The Viral Dunker In Jeans with a dunk that left Shaq in tears, he left the contest with a fiance and a lot of money to pay for that ring, future wedding and honeymoon.

Besides Dupuy's proposal, this season's Dunk King actually had quite a few tear-jerker story lines and moments. You had a dunker Davene Carter aka Showtime who taken out of foster care and adopted by his sister (25 minute mark of the following video)...

You had another dunker with a touching story about  having two white Dads and there was Brandon Lacue aka Werm, who broke down in tears after completing a dunk that was dedicated to his recently deceased Dad.

THE NEW DUNK KING

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If you were still awake after Inside the NBA after GM1 of the Thunder and Warriors series, then you were treated to the first episode of TNT's 4-part reality show/$100k dunk contest called 'The Dunk King.'

The first episode featured some great dunks by YouTube sensations and pro dunkers like Jordan Kilganon, Justin Darlington, Werm, Young Hollywood and Guy Dupuy, who has a 59" vert. Wait...what!?

"This is what a 59" vertical looks like."

Sorry Kenny Smith and TNT, Dupuy might be one of the best dunkers of all-time but he does NOT have a 59" vert and neither does or did Vince Carter, Michael Jordan, Spud Webb, Nate Robinson, Zach LaVine, Aaron Gordon or any other basketball player you have seen in a NBA game or in a YouTube video.  Actually there's never even been a NBA player with a proven 50" vert, so if you think Dupuy has 13 inches on Jason Richardson or Gerald Green or 16 on Steve Francis then in the words of Dunk King judge Shaquille O'Neal, "stop it. just stop it!"

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One of the most epic dunk contests ever happened 8 months ago and you didn’t even know about it. The top secret event, featuring NBA/TNT production and the Inside the NBA crew as judges, showcased the best dunks from 32 of the best pro dunkers in the world- like Kenny Dobb’s NBA Jam “he’s on fire” dunk -  as they competed for $100,000!

So why was this Cloverfield Lane 10 type contest so secretive? The reason is because the contest is part of an upcoming 4 episode reality show called The Dunk King, debuting this Monday after the Western Conference Finals on TNT. Each episode will show a part of the epic contest - with dunks that will either inspire Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon to try or make them next year or just shake their heads - and profile the aerial artists behind these video game like dunks.

And it’s these profile segments that will make you root and care for some of the artists over others. Like Myree Bowden, the 33 year old teacher and father of 5; Jordan Southerland, who will perform for the first time in front of his parents; Michael Purdie, honoring a friend who was tragically killed; Zach Jones, the entrepreneur who had surgery weeks before the event; Porter Maberry, the 5’5 underdog and so on.

Just as interesting as the dunkers and their inspirational stories are the host and judges: Terrance J, Kenny Smith, Shaq, Charles Barkley and former dunk champ Brent Barry. Barkley is notorious for hating on dunk contests and Shaq recently earned the title of Russian judge after his controversial role in the 2016 NBA dunk contest. During my interview with show creator Craig Barry, I asked what were the original thoughts by Barkley and Shaq when you pitched the show. Barry said they thought it was just another gimmick for TNT to make some money and the contest was going to be full of the same gimmicky dunks they have seen a hundred times. But it didn’t take long for the judges to realize that was far from the case. Kenny Smith, known for saying “I have never seen that dunk” during dunk contests, admitted he has never seen at least 10 of the dunks from this event.

I also wondered what made him come up with this high production event with a $100k prize (most major dunk contests from the past decade featured grand prizes between $10-20k). Barry said he originally thought about having the prize be half a million (!) and the whole idea came to him while having dinner and a few drinks with a friend, discussing the reality shows their wives watch. At $500k, I said I wouldn’t be surprised to see NBA players and former NBA dunk contest winners trying out for the event. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the characters from those reality shows trying to make some cameos - thankfully they are not in it and these guys are.

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