Just four months into his NBA career, rookie Shaedon Sharpe is making a habit of powering home mind-boggling dunks. He added to his quickly growing tally late in the third quarter of Tuesday’s Washington Wizards-Portland Trail Blazers contest. As the ball swung his way, Sharpe tossed up a tepid pump-fake, burned past Taj Gibson’s apathetic closeout, cocked back and coronated Kyle Kuzma, who was late arriving for help. It was quite the dunk.
sʜᴀᴇᴅᴜɴᴋ pic.twitter.com/vprzx66VSG
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 15, 2023
That’s a filthy poster, and I don’t care that Kuzma wasn’t in primary defensive position. Sharpe cocked the ball back to be parallel with his head. Kuzma had the time to be there — or at least I’ll decide he did.
Sharpe’s bounce is absurd. His blend of power, force and explosion are special. He was initially scheduled to participate in this weekend’s Dunk Contest during All-Star festivities, but withdrew last week. I sure hope we’re treated to his services in that show sooner rather than later. He’s a delight to watch slam the ball through the hoop.
He also seems to be making sizable all-around strides lately, playing some of his best basketball over the past few weeks. On the year, the 19-year-old Canadian is averaging 7.8 points and 2.6 rebounds on 56.1 percent true shooting (.477/.355/.652 split).