Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell added to the hype around his NBA rookie season when he won the Slam Dunk Contest on All-Star Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Mitchell, who is locked in a duel with Australia's Ben Simmons for NBA rookie of the year honours, spoiled Larry Nance Jr's bid to join his father as a winner of the Dunk Contest.
A late addition after Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon had to withdraw because of a hip injury, Mitchell capitalised on the opportunity, scoring a perfect 50 on the first of two final-round dunks to take a four-point lead from Nance.
Cleveland forward Nance secured a perfect 50 on his second dunk to put the pressure back on Mitchell, who responded with a 48 to edge him out, 98-96.
"I wanted this so badly," Mitchell said. "This is one of my favourite events of All-Star Weekend growing up. To be in it, then to win it is just amazing. It was a lot of fun."
Dennis Smith Jr. of the Mavericks and Victor Oladipo of the Pacers were eliminated in the first round.
The Suns' Devin Booker won the Three-Point Contest by scoring a record 28 points of a possible 34 in the final round, defeating the Warriors' Klay Thompson, the 2016 champion who had 25 points, and the Clippers' Tobias Harris, who had 17. Booker made 20 of 25 3-pointers.
Defending champion Eric Gordon of the Rockets was eliminated in the first round, as were Kyle Lowry (Raptors), Bradley Beal (Wizards), Paul George (Thunder) and Wayne Ellington (Heat).
The Nets' Spencer Dinwiddie defeated the Bulls' Lauri Markkanen to win the Skills Challenge, which paired players in a head-to-head series of skills contests in an obstacle-course-type format.
Four guards competed in one bracket and four big men in the other, with the two winners meeting in the final. Dinwiddie bested the Nuggets' Jamal Murray in the final of the guards bracket, and Markkanen beat the 76ers' Joel Embiid in the bigs bracket final.
Defending champion Kristaps Porzingis was unable to participate after suffering a torn ACL earlier this month.
Other participants were Buddy Hield (Kings), Lou Williams (Clippers), Al Horford (Celtics) and Andre Drummond (Pistons).
