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It’s rare to see a dunk in the Celebrity game, which is usually the first event at All-Star Weekend every year. It’s even more rare to see a putback dunk, but Gianmarco Tamberi made it happen.
Gianmarco Tamberi is an Olympic Gold Medal high jumper for a reason #RufflesCelebGame on ESPN pic.twitter.com/XnK7fiifD1
— NBA (@NBA) February 19, 2022
The gold medal high jumper timed his leap perfectly to follow up a missed triple with a nice putback slam. It didn’t quite have the ferocity of a NBA dunk but we’ll cut Tamberi some slack. Cleveland native Machine Gun Kelly looked a bit jealous of Tamberi as he ran back down the court with the airplane celebration.
If Tamberi’s name seems familiar, it’s because he and fellow Olympian Mutaz Essa Barshim were declared co-winners at the high jump in the Tokyo Summer Games. Rather than go to a tiebreaker, both competitors agreed to share the gold medal in a rare moment. We’ll see whether Tamberi competes again at the Olympics or gets an offer from the NBA after showing off his hops.