There are no superstars competing in Saturday night’s NBA dunk contest. In fact, one of the competitors isn’t even in the NBA. But that shouldn’t stop Minnesotans from tuning in because one of the four participants is Minneapolis native Jericho Sims.
Sims, a 6-foot-10 forward for the New York Knicks, will dunk against New Orleans’ Trey Murphy III, Houston’s Kenyon Martin Jr., and G League guard Max McClung, who is on a two-way contract with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Sims was a dominant high school player at Cristo Rey Jesuit in Minneapolis, where he was ranked as the No. 51 recruit in the country by Scout and No. 56 by Rivals. He averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds per game as a senior and finished as the all-time leading scorer at Cristo Rey Jesuit.
Sims’ father, Charles Sims, played basketball at the University of Minnesota in the 1970s and one of his brothers, Dominique Sims, was a standout linebacker for the Gophers football team from 2000-04.
Sims was drafted 58th overall by the Knicks in 2021.
This season, Sims is playing about 16 minutes per game and averaging 3.7 points and 4,.9 rebounds while shooting 77.8% from the field.
