Watch Miami Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. Leap Over Legend Shaquille O'Neal

Watch Miami Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s first dunk of the night

Miami Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. opened his array of dunks in the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest with a statement.

Jaquez delivered a dunk that involved NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal. He performed a windmill slam over O'Neal, which scored a 47.4 out of 50 from the judges (Gary Payton, Mitch Richmond, Darnell Hillman, Dominique Wilkins, and Fred Jones).

He is competing in the contest along with star Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics), defending champion Mac McClung (Osceola Magic), and forward Jacob Toppin (New York Knicks).

He has been a dominant dunker since high school, where he took down Philadelphia 76ers forward K.J. Martin and Atlanta Falcons star Drake London. The former UCLA Bruins' dunks were highlighted by a windmill over two men and between-the-legs slam.

Watch the dunk below:

Bringing in Big Diesel!

47.4 for Jaime on his first dunk. pic.twitter.com/hLQDH9HLBO

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) February 18, 2024

Jaquez detailed the process behind training for the event with NBA superstar Paul George on his podcast.

"I didn't realize how serious this process was gonna be. That's what I was telling myself the whole time. I'm just banking on the adrenaline. Obviously, taking a lot of inspiration from a lot of different places, everybody can do crazy dunks, so you gotta put your own little twist on things," Jaquez shared. "That's what I'm looking forward to doing. I think you got a lot of great jumpers and great dunkers in there. In game dunking is one thing, but a dunk contest is another. It's about, you know, being creative and having good tricks and stuff like that."

Jaquez is averaging 12.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on 49.2 percent shooting. He was trailing Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren in the Rookie of the Year race prior to a groin injury that left him sidelined for half a dozen games. He is No. 5 in the rankings as of Feb. 14, according to NBA.com.

Anthony Pasciolla works as a contributing writer to Inside the Heat.

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