Jerami Grant turns heads with posterizing dunk

LAS VEGAS -- Before D'Angelo Russell showed off the ice in his veins in the Los Angeles Lakers' 70-69 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, Jerami Grant had the highlight of the most-hyped matchup of Las Vegas Summer League on Saturday.

Midway through the third quarter, T.J. McConnell drove downhill on the left side of the floor as Grant ran the right sideline and cut toward the rim. McConnell dished a no-look pass to Grant, who took one dribble past Brandon Ingram, launched into the air and dunked on a rotating Ivica Zubac.

"I've been working on my explosiveness," Grant said. "I saw him under there and I just went for it. ... I knew if he jumped, I was going to dunk on him. I didn't expect him to actually jump."

Grant got up so high that his right leg cleared Zubac's head, reminiscent of Vince Carter's infamous dunk over French center Frédéric Weis in the 2000 Olympics.

"It was unbelievable," Sixers summer league coach Lloyd Pierce said. "Jerami is a special athlete. It was a great play. It was a momentum play for us at that time. I think we ended up going [16] points up."

Zubac, a native Croatian, couldn't help but laugh at himself afterward, admitting that he wasn't expecting Grant to posterize him.

"We don't have that in Europe," Zubac said. "I thought he was going to pump fake, so I didn't jump, and then he jumped on me."

When told that someone had changed his Wikipedia page to say he had died Saturday after Grant dunked on him, Zubac smirked and agreed.

"I did a little bit," Zubac said.

Larry Nance Jr., who had several impressive dunks of his own on Saturday, believes the dunk can be a learning experience for Zubac. Next time the rookie center rotates over toward a cutter, he will either aggressively attempt to block the dunk or take a foul.

"Yeah, he got dunked on. Everybody does," Nance Jr. said. "Jerami is a terrific athlete. I told him when he got dunked on, 'I'll get him back for you.' I did. That's my center, I got his back.

"We told him next time somebody goes up on you like that, make your presence felt. Nothing dirty, but just make sure he knows you're there."