Blazers rookie Shaedon Sharpe drops dunk-of-the-year candidate at Draymond Green's expense
If you're not familiar with Shaedon Sharpe's game, here's your chance.
The high-flying Portland Trail Blazers rookie made his presence known on Tuesday with a dunk-of-the-year candidate in a 123-105 loss to the Golden State Warriors. It came at Draymond Green's expense.
Early in the fourth quarter, Sharpe found himself the beneficiary of a well-timed pass from forward Trendon Watford, who was met with a double team in low post. Watford turned around to find Sharpe cutting through the lane and hit him with the ball in stride. From there, Sharpe knew what to do.
He leapt from the top of the restricted area, cocked the ball back with his right hand, then hammered home a dunk over Green, who helplessly met him at the rim.
THROW IT DOWN SHAEDON SHARPE 😱
GOODNESS.
Watch live on the NBA App
📺: https://t.co/1pomQZMAZK pic.twitter.com/54TEdxwDF0— NBA (@NBA) March 1, 2023
Here's another look in slow motion.
Emphatic. https://t.co/suJDiKVB2X pic.twitter.com/I6T5MxnZTc
— NBA (@NBA) March 1, 2023
After getting dunked on, Green had no patience for Sharpe's presence. He bumped Sharpe, then shoved him out of his path at the baseline as he walked to retrieve the ball. Sharpe just smiled and ran up court in response, surely aware he'd just put one of the game's notorious trash talkers on a poster.
Who is Shaedon Sharpe?
Sharpe was a mystery to most basketball fans when the Blazers drafted him seventh overall out of Kentucky last summer. The nation's No. 3 prospect, Sharpe reclassified in high school and enrolled at Kentucky a semester early last spring.
Instead of joining the Wildcats midseason, he decided to sit the season out. Once NBA teams told him he'd be a top pick, he declared for the draft. The decision paid off with a lottery selection.
A 6-6 guard, he's averaged 20.2 minutes as a rookie while tallying 7.9 points per game on 47.1% shooting from the field and 34.7% from 3-point distance. At 19 years old, he's very much a work in progress. But the tremendous athleticism that made him an elite prospect is not.