The OG Dunkman has answered our high-flying prayers after the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend broke his heart. Shaquille O’Neal has seen the quality of the Dunk Contest plummet over the last decade, despite multiple attempts to get the contestants, let alone the fans, interested. He has criticized the whole experience. Nonetheless, the Los Angeles Lakers legend has long admired a player’s ability to slam home the ball. He even went so far as to promise luxury cars in February earlier this year.

“For the Dunk Contest, it will be a Ferrari, for second place, it will be a Rolls-Royce Phantom, and it will be rotating in the middle of the floor, and whichever athlete wants the car, he must put on a show,” O’Neal said. However, the last edition of the contest drew widespread criticism, anyway. It subsequently forced Big Diesel to take matters into his own hands.

TNT is launching ‘DUNKMAN,’ a brand new, first-of-its-kind professional league for – any guesses – slam dunks. The first trailer, in collaboration with Authentic Brands Group (which Shaq owns a stake in) and Eli Lilly & Co. (which features Shaq as a spokesman), premiered in the summer of 2026. It’s every bit a bold move to reclaim the excitement of basketball’s most athletic feat.

Top Stories

NBA

Jaden Ivey’s Wife Pleads Him to “Stop” IG Live as Ex-Bulls Star Attempts to Share Update on Social Media

1 day ago

WNBA

Angel Reese Breaks Silence After Atlanta Dream Trade Yields 460 Percent Salary Surge

1 day ago

NBA

“This Is Why Michael Kept His Mouth Shut”: NFL Legend on LeBron James’ Memphis Controversy

2 days ago

NBA

Who Is Michael Malone’s Wife? Meet the Nuggets HC’s Partner of 25 Years and Two Amazing Kids Who Take After Her

3+ weeks ago

The trailer reveals that 24 participants will compete live for a $500,000 prize across four group stage events. “The NBA’s dunking contest over the last ten to fifteen years has been terrible,” O’Neal told Variety, echoing an opinion he has long held. “We want the best dunkers around the world, and we know there are a lot of great dunkers out there.”

The 2026 February Dunk Contest raised questions from a skill perspective. After Mac McLung controversially pulled out of the competition, fans were confused about who’d replace him. Jaxson Hayes was slammed for being mediocre, while Keshad Johnson, Jase Richardson, and Carter Bryant didn’t wow the audience the way McLung managed to, years after Dwight Howard and O’Neal retired. Well, Big Diesel’s new league promises to fix it all.

The league said it will use “an Olympic-level scoring system that sets a modern standard for professional dunking,” featuring a panel of expert judges. Dunkers in the league will come from all over the world, with 9 countries and 6 continents represented. The live events will air across TNT, TBS, truTV, and HBO Max, with additional content streamed across official “DUNKMAN” social channels, Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, and YouTube.

“These athletes are innovators, and Dunkman is going to give them a global stage, real stakes, and a chance to build careers doing what they love,” O’Neal said. “We are transforming dunking from a one-night contest to the fastest growing professional sport off two feet.” When asked about how the participants will be chosen, the NBA legend simply said, “online.” “If you go to YouTube, dunk clips are some of the most successful clips,” O’Neal continued, crediting Jordan Kilganon for starting the movement years ago.

O’Neal will serve as the DUNKMAN league’s Commissioner. His responsibilities will include creating the rosters and helping determine the point system by which judges will evaluate hangtime and vertical leap, who advances, and who is ultimately crowned DUNKMAN world champion. This venture comes eight years after The Dunk King, which “got over 200 million hits,” and a year after Dunkman, the television show.

This also mirrors a broader trend of athlete-driven ventures, such as Ice Cube’s BIG3 league, which successfully created a new platform for former NBA players outside the traditional structure. The trailer also showed some glimpses of NBA stardom. One of the last few players to make the All-Star Dunk Contest a spectacle, Dwight Howard seems to be on the judging panel (yet to be confirmed), a huge upgrade since the two Supermans have put their past beef behind them and restored some excitement to dunking.

Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘DUNKMAN’ league starts TNT’s new chapter

Having long criticized the decline of the Dunk Contest, Shaquille O’Neal has routinely offered suggestions to revive it, including sponsoring prizes. But the contest has continued to wane in the post-Vince Carter and Dwight Howard era without superstar participation and interest. Not only does the league aim to make the art of the poster dunk exciting again, but it also marks the return of basketball programming to Warner Bros. Discovery. The $69 billion giant lost the $72 billion NBA bidding war, which saw Inside the NBA licensed to ESPN.

However, networks have discovered a cheaper alternative to sports entertainment in their own leagues. After the success of Unrivaled, DUNKMAN could be TNT’s next showstopper in the NBA offseason. The six-figure cash prize is a direct response to O’Neal’s long-standing criticism of the NBA’s lack of innovation. He’s offered up the same prize to lure Ja Morant and Zion Williamson to the All-Star event, but no one has bitten. Just months ago, following the 2026 NBA All-Star weekend, Shaq went on The Big Podcast to label the most recent NBA installment the “worst Dunk Contest in dunk contest history.”

DUNKMAN has already filmed a six-episode slate, and Shaq said the pilot featured talent superior to the NBA’s current roster. There are no O’Neal kids in the mix. Jalen Rose also seems to be on the panel, but the contestants are from all over the world. One of O’Neal’s faves is a Polish doctor who surprises everyone with his posters.

Shaq is pulling out all the stops to ensure this isn’t some gimmicky sideshow. “This is a new professional league, not a dunking contest,” the legend says, “We are calling all dunkers.”