Matthew "Mac" McClung (born January 6, 1999) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Delaware Blue Coats The Delaware Blue Coats are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Wilmington, Delaware, and are affiliated with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Blue Coats play their home games at Chase Fieldhouse. The team was founde ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National C ...

and the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raide ...

. A consensus three-star

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and among the highest ranked high school players in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, McClung rose to national acclaim online with Gate City High School for his dunking ability.

Early life

McClung grew up in

Gate City, Virginia Gate City is a town in Scott County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,034 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Scott County. Gate City is part of the Kingsport– Bristol (TN)– Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistica ...

, a small town of about 2,000 in the

Tri-Cities metropolitan area The Kennewick–Pasco–Richland metropolitan area—colloquially referred to as the Tri-Cities metropolitan area, and officially known as the Kennewick–Richland, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area—is a Metropolitan statistical area, metropolit ...

straddling the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

–Virginia border, where he initially began playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

—a sport that is far more popular than basketball in

Southwest Virginia Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Vir ...

. Family members recalled in a 2018 interview that McClung was extraordinarily competitive as a child. His father Marcus said of him, "Mac was just born with it. If you’re fixing a bowl of cereal, he’s going to make a competition." His older sister Anna would add, "He would just come at you every day, no matter how small he was." His parents built a basement gym in their home, initially for Anna, but Mac would regularly use it as he grew up—though he was so competitive that his father would frequently ban him from the gym to allow Anna to work out undisturbed. He received his first significant exposure to basketball just before entering the seventh grade, when his mother Lenoir signed him up for a local youth league. Scott Vermillion, who was McClung's coach at Gate City High School, recalled in 2018, "He ducked his head inside for a minute and basically never left." McClung soon became more interested in basketball and began training for the sport regularly, with hopes of making the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA), and his father was silently pleased when he gave up football after his freshman year of high school. According to McClung, his shooting form improved after he broke his arm while

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

in eighth grade, and he honed the skill with Greg Ervin, the former head coach at Gate City High.

High school career

McClung first started dunking as a sophomore playing varsity basketball at Gate City High School. He grew in profile as an acrobatic dunker through the rest of his high school career.

MaxPreps MaxPreps is an American website that specializes in coverage of American high school sports. The site is owned by Paramount Global and is a division of CBS Sports. Founded on August 1, 2002, the company has covered up to 29 sports, including b ...

labeled him "one of nation's most exciting players." As a junior, on February 24, 2017, he scored a career-high 64 points in a loss to Dan River High School at the

Virginia High School League The Virginia High School League (VHSL) is the principal sanctioning organization for interscholastic athletic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VHSL first sponsored debate and also continues to sponsor sta ...

(VHSL) Region 2A West tournament. It was the best scoring performance in school history and the highest among Virginia public schools since 1984. After the season, he was averaging 29.0 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.0 steals per game for the Blue Devils and was tabbed Southwest Virginia Boys' Basketball Player of the Year by the ''

Bristol Herald Courier The ''Bristol Herald Courier'' is a 39,000 circulation daily newspaper owned by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper is located in Bristol, Virginia, a small city located in Southwest Virginia on the Tennessee border. The ''Herald Courier'' is in what ...

''. In the summer, he committed to play for

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

in college. On December 12, he made his senior debut by scoring 47 points, shooting 18-of-23, in a 96–43 win over Lee High School. Among those in attendance was Georgetown head coach

Patrick Ewing Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Georgetown University men's team. He played most of his career as the starting center for the N ...

. On January 11, 2018, after opposing coach James Schooler reportedly told him "you're going to Georgetown to sit," McClung scored 44 points against Fern Creek High School of

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

at the

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Classic tournament in

Bristol, Tennessee Bristol is a city in the State of Tennessee. Located in Sullivan County, its population was 26,702 at the 2010 census. It is the twin city of Bristol, Virginia, which lies directly across the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. The ...

. McClung broke the VHSL single-season scoring record previously held by

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Allen Iverson Allen Ezail Iverson (; born June 7, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Answer", he played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) at both the shooting guard and point guard positions. Iver ...

during the 2018 VHSL regional playoffs on February 21, surpassing Iverson's record of 948 points in 25 games—five fewer than it took Iverson to amass the previous record. He ended his high school career with Gate City's first state championship, scoring 47 points in an 80–65 title-game win over Staunton's Robert E. Lee High. The 47 points broke a VHSL all-classes scoring record for a championship game that had been held by former NBA player

JJ Redick Jonathan Clay "JJ" Redick (born June 24, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player who is a podcaster and sports analyst for ESPN. He was selected 11th overall by the Orlando Magic in the 2006 NBA draft. He played college baske ...

. McClung finished the season with 1,153 points and 2,801 for his career, also a VHSL all-classes record, and was again named Southwest Virginia Player of the Year by the ''Herald Courier''. He won the slam dunk contest at the

Ballislife All-American Game The Ballislife All-American Game is an annual American all-star game featuring high school basketball players. It was founded in 2011 by Ballislife.com to provide a stage for West Coast players who were not selected to other All-American games. A ...

Recruiting

Prior to his final high school season, on October 6, 2017, McClung decommitted from Rutgers. Over one week later, he committed to Georgetown.

College career

Georgetown (2018–2020)

On December 22, 2018, McClung scored a freshman season-high 38 points for Georgetown in a 102–94 victory over

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

. As a freshman, he averaged 13.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and two assists per game, leading all

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

freshmen in scoring. McClung was named to the Big East All-Freshman Team. In February 2020, during his sophomore season, he missed several games with a foot injury. McClung only played 21 games due to the injury, averaging 15.7 points, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 27 minutes per game as a sophomore. After the season, he declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

and signed with an NCAA-certified agent to maintain his collegiate eligibility. On May 13, he withdrew from the draft and entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Texas Tech (2020–2021)

On May 27, 2020, McClung left Georgetown and announced that he would transfer to

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

. He was granted a waiver for immediate eligibility on October 30. In his Texas Tech debut on November 25, McClung finished with 20 points in a 101–58 win against

Northwestern State Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...

. As a junior, he averaged 15.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. McClung entered the collegiate transfer portal again in April 2021 while simultaneously declaring for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

. In May 2021, McClung confirmed via

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that he would remain in the draft and forgo his remaining college eligibility.

Professional career

South Bay Lakers (2021)

After going undrafted in the

, McClung joined the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

for the 2021 NBA Summer League, and afterwards signed with the team on August 10, 2021. However, he was waived on October 13. On October 23, 2021, he signed with the

South Bay Lakers The South Bay Lakers are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Los Angeles. Founded in 2006 as the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team is owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, who were the first National Basketball Associa ...

of the

, the affiliate team of the Los Angeles Lakers. Mac's debut with South Bay consisted of a game-high 24 points, nine assists and six rebounds in a 112–105 victory over the

NBA G League Ignite The NBA G League Ignite is a developmental basketball team in the NBA G League. Based in Henderson, Nevada, the team was designed to play exhibition games outside the G League's traditional scheduling as part of a one-year development program for e ...

on November 5, 2021.

Chicago Bulls (2021–2022)

On December 22, 2021, McClung signed a 10-day contract with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

. He signed a second 10-day contract with the team on January 1, 2022. On January 4, 2022, the Chicago Bulls assigned McClung to their

affiliate, the

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thirte ...

. McClung debuted the very next night, and in his first game with the team McClung scored 19 points and had nine assists in a 112-108 loss to the

Motor City Cruise The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play a ...

. On January 6, 2022, McClung was recalled to the main roster.

Return to South Bay / Los Angeles Lakers (2022)

On January 11, 2022, after his 10-day contracts expired, McClung was reacquired by the

. He was named the 2021–22 G League Rookie of the Year. On April 9, 2022, McClung signed a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

with the

. On June 29, Los Angeles declined his $1.62 million qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. He joined the Lakers for the California Classic in the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus ...

. After playing two games for the Lakers' summer league team, McClung joined the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

' summer squad. On July 22, 2022, McClung signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Warriors. On October 3, 2022, McClung was released by the Warriors. On October 9, 2022, the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

signed McClung to an Exhibit-10 contract before being waived a day later.

Delaware Blue Coats (2022–present)

He joined the

for the 2022-23 season.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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L.A. Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

, 1 , , 0 , , 22.0 , , .400 , , .333 , , 1.000 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 6.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 2 , , 0 , , 12.5 , , .500 , , .333 , , 1.000 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .5 , , .5 , , 4.0

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Georgetown , 29 , , 29 , , 26.4 , , .392 , , .277 , , .798 , , 2.6 , , 2.0 , , .8 , , .1 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Georgetown , 21 , , 20 , , 26.8 , , .394 , , .323 , , .802 , , 3.1 , , 2.4 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 15.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 29 , , 30.2 , , .419 , , .343 , , .793 , , 2.7 , , 2.1 , , .8 , , .3 , , 15.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 79 , , 78 , , 27.9 , , .403 , , .313 , , .797 , , 2.8 , , 2.2 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 14.7

Personal life

McClung is the son of Marcus and Lenoir McClung. During his birth, his umbilical cord was tightly wrapped around his neck; his father recalled, "He was blue as a

Smurf ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and int ...

." The attending physicians quickly freed him, and he almost immediately recovered. His parents met at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

, where Marcus played

and Lenoir was a cheerleader. His father went on to become an attorney, serving as Commonwealth Attorney for

Scott County, Virginia Scott County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,576. Its county seat is Gate City. Scott County was formed by an act of the General Assembly on November 24, ...

as of 2018, while at that time his mother was teaching driver's education at Gate City High. According to a 2018 story in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', as well as the aforementioned story in ''The Undefeated'', his parents' background greatly aided the younger McClung in his athletic pursuits. His father served as trainer for much of his youth, and the family was also able to afford placing him on a

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

-based AAU travel team. His sister Anna, who completed her high school

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

career as the VHSL's all-time goal scoring leader, went on to play the sport at

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

and

, while his uncle

Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...

competed with two

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) teams. His aunts Correne and Collette both played Division 1 College Hockey. Correne also played with the Canadian National Team.

References

External links

Texas Tech Red Raiders bioGeorgetown Hoyas bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McClung, Mac 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Virginia Chicago Bulls players Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball players People from Gate City, Virginia Point guards South Bay Lakers players Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball players Undrafted National Basketball Association players Windy City Bulls players United States men's national basketball team players