Shelby McEwen is an Olympic silver medalist high jumper and one of the most explosive pure athletes competing in Shaq's DunkMan League. Born in Abbeville, Mississippi in 1996, he is a rare case of an elite track athlete who was a dunker first, and who never really stopped being one.
Basketball was his first love and an NBA career was the original plan. As a high school junior he skipped the state high jump meet entirely to play AAU basketball, and that same year he won the Jordan Brand national dunk competition. He finally won state in the high jump as a senior and still refused to put the ball down. From 2015 to 2017 he played basketball at Northwest Mississippi Community College while competing unattached in track, scoring 260 points with 46 steals and 17 blocks across two seasons for the Rangers.
Track eventually took over at Alabama. In 2019 he cleared 2.31 meters indoors and 2.30 outdoors and made the world championship team in Doha. He finished 12th in the Olympic final in Tokyo, then came back at the 2024 Paris Games and jumped a lifetime best of 2.36 meters, 7 feet 8.75 inches, to tie for the lead. Offered a shared gold medal with New Zealand's Hamish Kerr, the two chose to settle it in a jump-off instead. Kerr cleared 2.34 and McEwen did not, leaving him with the silver.
That same spring-loaded left leg is what makes him dangerous above the rim. He carries a 43" standing vertical and a reach near 12 feet, and he was dunking from behind the free throw line as far back as high school. Featured by Dunkademics and Bleacher Report, he is one of the most athletic dunkers ever filmed.
Dunkman League 2026. He competed in Group Stage A on July 21, in a group won by Cam Hazzard ahead of Joel Henry and Chen Dengxing, and finished outside the advancing places. The Dunkman League runs four group stages of six at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. The four group winners advance to the World Championship on August 25 along with the four highest scoring non-winners across all groups, for a field of eight and a $500,000 prize.