Duke basketball: Latest Cassius Stanley dunk makes no sense

Duke basketball alum Cassius Stanley is mocking earth’s gravitational pull.

Vibrations from the grave of Sir Isaac Newton would make sense. The physicist should be rolling over right about now as he rethinks the law of universal gravitation that he published in 1687. After all, an aerial act this week by one of last season’s Duke basketball rookie sensations just doesn’t align with the equation from history’s most influential scientist.

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Even Cassius Stanley himself appeared to be in awe of his hang time, tweeting the following tease on Thursday:

“I might’ve just hit the craziest dunk ever.”

OK, so Zion Williamson, Michael Jordan, and Dominique Wilkins might disagree with the 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard’s claim. But especially for those of us with the vertical leap of a hippopotamus, it’s hard to argue that the gone-viral clip Stanley then presented on social media is quite mind-boggling:

https://twitter.com/DJ_BruceBanner/status/1278831033614503936?s=20

Currently, the video stands at 1.5 million views. Surely, many of those are from repeat viewers trying to come to terms with what all Stanley managed to pull off during his flight. Thankfully, one reply to his tweet (above) offered a slow-mo version, including a still-frame of the NBA-bound Blue Devil at max height as he passed the ball under his legs from his right to left hand. Maybe this was just an attempt to see if the 20-year-old has grown wings.

Stanley, who averaged 12.6 points and 4.9 rebounds for a 2019-20 Duke team that finished 25-6 and No. 11 in the final AP Poll, evidently earned a perfect score from NBA legend Dwyane Wade:

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At the moment, Stanley — now Duke’s vertical record holder at a measured 46.5 inches — is far from a lock to be a first-round selection on Oct. 16 at the 2020 NBA Draft. The same goes for his fellow Blue Devil early departees, center Vernon Carey Jr. and point guard Tre Jones.

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Assuming Stanley is able to carve out a role for some franchise, though, what does seem probable is the California native one day regularly contending for the crown in the league’s Slam Dunk Contest — much to the chagrin of Newton, of course.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more news and views regarding Cassius Stanley and all things Duke basketball.