This Day In Utah Sports History: Jeremy Evans Wins Dunk Contest
Feb 25, 2023, 3:03 PM | Updated: 3:07 pm
ORLANDO – On February 25, 2012, Jeremy Evans took the NBA All-Star Dunk Contest trophy home to the state of Utah.
At the time, he was the only Jazzman to win the contest. Donovan Mitchell added his name to the club in 2018.
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Jeremy Evans Wins The 2012 Dunk Contest
Utah’s Jeremy Evans faced off against Houston’s Chase Budinger, Minnesota’s Derrick Williams, and Indiana’s Paul George on All-Star Saturday night.
NBA All-Star weekend was hosted by Orlando in 2012. It was their second time hosting the event. The first was in 1992, one year before Utah’s first time hosting All-Star weekend.
The most-watched NBA All-Star games:
1⃣ Salt Lake City 1993 – 22.9M
2⃣ Orlando 1992 – 18.8M
3⃣ San Antonio 1996 – 17.5M
4⃣ New York 1998 – 16.9M
5⃣ Cleveland 1997 – 16.9MRead the full list ⤵️
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 19, 2023
For his first dunk, Evans tossed an alley-oop to himself and threw down a reverse dunk. He wore a camera on his head for a point-of-view angle.
Evans’s second dunk was debatably the best of the night. He had teammate Gordon Hayward sit in a chair and toss two balls into the air and then proceeded to dunk both in the same basket.
Jeremy Evans’s dunk was reminiscent of JaVale McGee’s dunk from the year prior.
Two basketballs.
Two rims.
Two dunks.JaVale McGee with a double-dunk at the 2011 Dunk Contest 🤯
2022 #ATTSlamDunk: Saturday night on TNT pic.twitter.com/BqgqthTd3P
— #NBAAllStar (@NBAAllStar) February 17, 2022
Evans gave tribute to Karl Malone on his third dunk of the night. He was delivered a Malone jersey from comedian Kevin Hart. After putting the jersey on, he jumped over Hart while pulling off Malone’s signature dunk.
The Jazz’s first-ever Dunk Contest participant was Darrell Griffith in 1984. Since then, Blue Edwards, David Benoit, Jamie Watson, and DeShawn Stevenson all entered the dunk contest as a member of the Utah Jazz.
In 1984, Darrell Griffith became the first Jazzman to compete in the dunk contest. He went up against the likes of Dr. J, Dominique Wilkins and winner Larry Nance.
His fellow @uofl alum Donovan Mitchell will follow in his footsteps in Saturday’s #VerizonDunk contest! pic.twitter.com/mPp4j2iKm4
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 16, 2018
The only players to win the contest in franchise history are the two most recent participants, Donovan Mitchell and Jeremy Evans.
Where Is Evans Now?
After leaving the Jazz in 2015, Evans played for the Dallas Mavericks for one year before leaving to play overseas.
Since 2016, Evans has played in professional leagues in Russia, Turkey, Italy, and France. He had a short stint with the Atlanta Hawks in 2018.
Was watching Gran Canaria vs Paris for Khalifa Diop vs Ismael Kamagate, came away impressed with these 2 dunks by former NBA Slam Dunk champion Jeremy Evans. At 35 he’s still got the bunnies pic.twitter.com/YGcCULAU9f
— Mavs/Magic Draft (@MavsDraft) February 3, 2023
This year for Paris Basketball, Evans is averaging 10 points and 7 rebounds a game.
Evans does as much art as he does basketball. He painted a picture of himself as a prop for the 2013 Dunk Contest and has painted ever since.
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Chandler Holt is a Digital Sports Producer for sports.ksl.com, specializing in all things basketball and football. Follow Chandler on Twitter at @ChandlerHoltKSL.
