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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND

February 13, 2016

Zach LaVine

Toronto, Ontario - Verizon Slam Dunk

Q. As you're going into the dunk-off, what was going through your mind? How many did you think you would have to do to win this thing?
ZACH LaVINE: Man, not that many. I was prepared for four. To tell the truth, he came with something that no one else has done. He did two dunks that were just crazy with the mascots, jumping over them. We just kept pushing each other until the last dunk.

I've got to give it up to my boy Will "The Thrill" Barton. It's because of him I think I won. Because he said try to go from the free-throw line. I'd never done that before, and I just tried it. So I guess it was a great dunk. I think it was the best one ever.

Q. Do you think that this possibly is the best Dunk Contest in history?
ZACH LaVINE: Yeah, and I don't want to get into -- everybody's probably going to say something about Mike and all them and Dr. J. But in my personal opinion, man, we did some things that nobody else did. Like half the dunks we did were like professional-dunker dunks, and it takes them four or five times to try it and make it, and we did it on the first try. It was crazy. In my opinion, yes.

Q. I saw you and Aaron had some conversation during the game. What did you guys say to each other?
ZACH LaVINE: Let's just keep going, man. We were kind of mind-boggled a couple times because we got 49s and they were 50s. Yeah, I think it was Shaq that gave us a 49. So we just had some back-and-forth conversation.

He did such a good job, man. We were both deserving. I just pulled something out at the end that was crazy, so I'm just glad I did that.

Q. Do you think without Shaq maybe Aaron was going to win that game?
ZACH LaVINE: I think it could go both ways. Shaq gave me a couple 49s. He gave him a couple 49s, so it could have gone both ways. But toward the end, I think it was the last four dunks, we all had 50s.

Q. Who are your favorite dunkers growing up, and what did you take away from those guys?
ZACH LaVINE: Favorite dunkers growing up, Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, Kobe. You know, I used to love T-Mac. I was shaking his hand and talking to him out there. He's one of my favorite players. I took from them just be a showman.

I wanted to come back this year and defend my title because Michael Jordan and all the greats did it. There's a lot of people that just won it once and didn't come back. I felt like I wanted to come back and try to prove myself again.

Q. Curious, that dunk was like Dr. J, Michael Jordan and Vince Carter, like all in one. I've never seen anything like it.
ZACH LaVINE: Yeah.

Q. That being said, who were you channeling at that point? Was it any of those three?
ZACH LaVINE: Man, to tell you the truth, I don't know. The only thing I could just think is just try to make it and do a better dunk. Like I said -- you're talking about the last one, right? The last one I went from the free-throw line twice. I did the first one with the lob from Andre [Miller], dunked it. Then the windmill. And I made both of those before. I never tried a free-throw one before.

And Will Barton said, Just try this. Because at the end of the day, we both didn't have dunks. He was trying to throw it off the shot clock. He was like, I've never tried that before. We were looking in our bag of tricks. Ain't nothing left. I just found a little piece of dust.

Q. My follow-up to that, everybody says the Slam Dunk Contest is whack. Nobody wants to participate. Do you think that you guys are now the guys who are going to challenge folks to actually do it?
ZACH LaVINE: I mean, the last two years have been crazy in my opinion. This one's been, like I said, I think it's one of the best. So, yeah, there's going to be a lot more people coming in to do great things.

Q. So this is going to put you around the same level as Nate-Rob [Nate Robinson]. What are you going to tell them once you get back to Seattle?
ZACH LaVINE: Yeah, me, J-Rich [Jason Richardson], Jordan and Nate, back-to-back titles. You know, it's really cool to be put in with those names. It's a blessing.

You know at such a young age, I feel like I'm on the right path. Just try to keep getting better and better and keep accomplishing things that are instilled in me and my goals.

Q. What was going through your mind when Andre Drummond pulled Steve Nash out of the crowd? He was doing the soccer kick thing?
ZACH LaVINE: It was cool. I was thinking of when Steve Nash did it with Amar'e [Stoudemire], he headbutted off the glass and gave it to Amare, and I thought he's going to do the same one, he's going to do something different. And he did the little kick flip.

And Steve, he was doing it all cool at first, and he messed it up a couple times. That's just the way it goes. He wasn't trying to. It was still a great dunk.

Q. I was wondering, did you get a chance to watch Karl-Anthony [Towns] or were you back here preparing?
ZACH LaVINE: I was right over here watching it. I wanted to be down on the floor. I watched him in the first round [of the Taco Bell Skills Challenge] and I flipped out when he came up here. I was like, Yeah, Kat, let's go. I was really happy for him.

I won the MVP last night [in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge], won this today, and you know, he won the Skills Challenge. So Timberwolves were well represented. Shows where we're going. And Andrew [Wiggins] won it [MVP of Rising Stars] last year.

Q. Zach, what went into getting Andre Miller involved?
ZACH LaVINE: I mean, Andre's one of the best alley-oop passers of all time. He's thrown me a couple lobs this year that I wasn't expecting. I just laid it in. It was like, Oh, man, threw it 75 feet and just throwing it in the air. It was like, Bro, you got chills and I ain't even looking. But I think Andre is one of my favorite vets. He's helped me a lot learn the point guard position and helped me get better this year.

I don't know if this is going to be the last All-Star, but it's coming down to it. And I wanted to incorporate him in different things like that.

Q. Is the Skills Challenge or Three-Point Contest something you want to do in the future?
ZACH LaVINE: Oh, definitely. I want to do it all. I want to do it all. I've got the Rising Stars, the Slam Dunk, I feel like I'll be all right for the Skills Challenge. I'm pretty damn fast, and I can shoot it pretty well. Just get more consistent with it, and see where it goes from there in the All-Star Game. I've got three more left, I'm going to try to get them.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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