From the moment the music started, the cameras began rolling and the crowd at the Intuit Dome got caught up in the beat, Keshad Johnson made clear this was going to be more than the mundane when it came to the NBA All-Star dunk contest.
For the second-year Miami Heat forward, this was going to be about who he was, where he came from, how faith inspired a dream.
By the time Saturday’s competition was completed, by the time Johnson vanquished San Antonio Spurs rookie forward Carter Bryant in the championship round, the charisma of the Bay Area product had enveloped the Los Angeles Clippers’ arena to the degree that he was being embraced as one of their own.
“My journey getting here, I can’t thank the Lord enough,” Johnson said after his soaring, windmilling, dancing was complete. “I beat the odds. I beat the odds. I made it. I made it into the NBA. I dreamed of every year I was watching the NBA dunk contest, I dreamed of being out there, putting on a show for everybody.
“I learned from all the people that came before me, paying homage to them, and now I’m here.”
In the days leading up to the competition, Johnson’s face glistened when asked how he would make the moment meaningful, personal. When it was mentioned to him that Heat teammate Jaime Jaquez Jr. utilized former Heat center Shaquille O’Neal as a prop two years ago, Johnson offered a playful wink.
It turned out it was a wink to his past, to his roots in Oakland, Calif., of making it out of poverty there first to San Diego State, then to the University of Arizona and finally to the Heat on a two-way contract after going undrafted in 2024.
So as he entered the court, alongside was E-40, Earl Stevens, the Bay Area platinum-selling rapper and actor, a founding member of the rap group The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records.
Moments later, with a midair tribute to the dunking style of Karl Malone, Johnson was inflight over E-40 and on the way to vanquishing Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxon Hayes and Orlando Magic rookie guard Jase Richardson in the first round.
And when it came to the final round, a soaring, tomahawk, Michael-Jordan style throwdown from just beyond the foul line took care of Bryant.
With that, Johnson joined Harold Miner and Derrick Jones Jr. as the third dunk champion in the Heat’s 38 seasons.
“I’m from the West Coast, from Oakland, California. This is home to me. This is the West Coast,” Johnson said in the Clippers’ Inglewood, Calif., arena. “We’ve got a swag. We’ve got a flavor. I felt like I was at home. So when I saw everybody, saw the fans, it is like what I dreamed of. “Once you’re in a dream, you control your dream, you can do anything in your dream. I felt like the fans were with me. I just did what I did, put my best foot forward, did what I could do.”
HEAT fam showin’ out for SHOWTIME! pic.twitter.com/fJNBZAfO8J
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) February 15, 2026
With Heat owner Micky Arison, Heat President Pat Riley and teammate Norman Powell, a Sunday All-Star, on hand, Johnson reveled in evidence of his Showtime moniker.
For Johnson, it was nothing short of a whirlwind, a week that began with two appearances with the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Then it was on to New Orleans to meet the Heat for their Wednesday night victory there over the Pelicans, and then on to the Intuit Dome for Saturday night’s crowning moment.
“I had two G League games and two days of actual practice,” Johnson, 24, said of setting up for the competition. “Just stuck to the plan. My (dunk) coach Chuck, he told me stick to the plan. I wanted to change it so bad. My blood was boiling a little bit. Stick to the plan, and look what happened.”
RUNNING WINDMILL JAM FOR THE WIN!
Keshad Johnson is your 2026 @ATT Slam Dunk Champion pic.twitter.com/jAhyHzesvr
— NBA (@NBA) February 15, 2026
A judging panel that included former dunk champions Julius Erving and Dominique Wilkins took notice, as did dunk champion Vince Carter, who was broadcasting the event, just as Heat teammates have during practice sessions over the past two seasons that have turned into impromptu dunk contests.
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“Man, I’ve been watching the NBA all my life,” Johnson said. “Being around all these legends. I promise you it’s literally a dream. I can’t put it to words. It’s a dream being front and center stage with Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins, able to shake their hands, Vince Carter, list goes on and on.
“Just being able to show everybody who I am. I know who they are, but now they know who I am.”
Having displayed a 42-inch maximum vertical leap at the 2024 NBA Draft Combine, Johnson left little doubt about the hop in his step.
“I have to have crazy faith to be here and be in this position,” Johnson said, “and just glorify the name of the Lord just for having Keshad ‘Showtime’ Johnson to be out here in the NBA dunk contest and coming home with the championship.”
Keshad Johnson PUT ON A SHOW on his way to winning the 2026 Dunk Contest!@ATT pic.twitter.com/s8iA7Krnqk
— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) February 15, 2026
3-point contest
Earlier, in the All-Star Saturday 3-point contest won by sidelined Portland Trail Blazer Damian Lillard, the Heat’s Powell placed fifth overall, failing to advance to the knockout round, after totaling 23 points in his lone timed round of shooting shots valued at one, two or three points.
“I just ran a little bit short of time,” Powell said, improving from his last-place finish in the event a year ago. “I slowed myself down a little too much, because last year I was sped up and going through the course too fast, so kind of said I’m gonna calm down, relax. and take my time with my shots. But, in the end, I ran a little bit short of time.”
The Johnson and Powell performances came after the teams of the Heat’s Kel’el Ware and Jahmir Young’s both were eliminated in the first round of the Rising Stars competition that kicked off All-Star Weekend on Friday night.
Ware had seven points, three rebounds and one block in 10 minutes in the game played to 40. In his team’s games, Young, who is on a Heat two-way contract, closed with three points in six minutes while playing for a team of G League stars.
