I went live on FOX 5 Atlanta on a Friday afternoon from a gym, not a studio, to explain Shaq’s DunkMan League to a city that can walk to the arena.
Eric Perry had me on the Friday 3pm hour on August 7, 2026. I am 18. I am the youngest person in the league. He had sat in the stands earlier that week and wanted a straight answer for people at home: what this thing is, how you train for it, and why Atlanta should care.
That clip is the hit. The rest of this page is what I said on it.
What DunkMan actually is
Perry opened by teasing a dunk league in Midtown around Atlantic Station, then brought me in as one of the youngest league members. He asked me to describe DunkMan for someone who had never heard of it.
I told him it is the first professional dunking league. Not a one-off contest in a high school gym. A league built for professional dunkers.
DunkMan is the first ever professional dunking league.
There are 24 dunkers in it. Guys from the United States, plus Brazil, the UK, and China. Shaquille O’Neal commissioned it with Authentic Brands. The prize is $500,000, the biggest prize in dunk contest history. Group-stage nights have been Tuesdays in Atlanta at OT Arena, around Atlantic Station, and you can stream them on TNT and HBO Max.
People still treat dunking like a halftime stunt. This is a tournament-style league with group-stage events and a world championship at the end. I also said this week’s group stage was Group Stage D at Atlanta OT Arena on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m.
How a Minnesota dunker ended up on Atlanta TV
Perry had already done the homework. He told viewers he came earlier in the week, Tuesday night, and was blown away by the talent. He did not need me to sell the dunks. He needed someone inside the league to put language on what he had just watched.
I am from Minnesota. I went to Spring Lake Park. KARE 11 came to that gym when I was 17, after I had already quit organized basketball to go all-in on dunking. That was the first local TV hit. FOX 5 was the next one, because the league I signed with plays in Atlanta.
The dunking path is on my Pro Dunking page. The rest of the bio is on my About page. Short version: I started on low rims as a kid, I built a career out of contests and content, and I signed as the youngest athlete in the field. One of the other 24 is fellow dunker Cam Hazzard. On FOX 5 I kept the focus on the league itself. That was the question Perry asked.
What Eric Perry asked me
Perry walked the segment in a straight line: the league, the prep, the crowd scoring, what the sport means, and how a kid starts.
I answered in that order, with no script. The longer answers are in the sections below. Two things sat outside those questions.
He had B-roll rolling while I talked. The screen showed a dunk on a car, and I said that was me. Before the segment ended, he said FOX 5 should bring me into the station, put a rim up, and have me teach some of their people. I thanked him. Then I told him I would be there Sunday.
How I prepare when the prize is $500,000
Perry wanted the training answer. People see a Windmill or a dunk over a person and assume it is all bounce. Bounce matters. The week-to-week work is more boring than that.
I told him I started young, messing around on low rims and learning dunks there. You learn the trick where you can finish it, then you take it up. Most of the year I do whatever dunks I feel like doing. Once it is competition time, I pick the dunks I want and I rep them.
I also told him I was at the gym during the hit.
I’m actually at the gym right now. I’m about to go do some dunks. The TV hit is a short window in a day I still have to train. A league with a $500,000 championship, group stages, and TNT is a season. You pick fewer dunks and you hit them cleaner.
The fans hold up 7s through 10s
The part people at home notice is the scoring. After a dunk, the audience holds up cards: 7, 8, 9, and 10. Perry called it out because he had sat in those seats.
I told him dunking in an empty gym and dunking in front of people who are scoring you are not the same thing. If the room is quiet, you feel it. If the room is in it, you feel that too. The dunkers feed off that.
I also told him I had already been in that building as a fan. A couple of weeks before the hit, I went to a night just to watch. People were meeting Shaq after. People were meeting the dunkers after. The city was in it.
Dunking has been a small sport with loud gyms and almost no mainstream stage. When a local news anchor can describe the scoring cards from his own night in the stands, the sport is starting to look like a league. I want fans to leave thinking this is a real night, on TNT and in the building, not only a viral clip.
The advice I give kids who want to dunk
Perry closed with beginner advice. I gave him the same answer I give in a gym.
If you have a lower rim, that is the best way to start. I called it the law of specificity on air: the more you do something, the better you get at it. Start on 7-foot and 8-foot rims. Learn the dunks there. Move up as the bounce and the technique catch up.
That work trains bounce and dunk technique at the same time. That is what I did. That is what a lot of the guys in this league did. It is a lower rim and a lot of attempts.
I teach that same progression when I am back at The Dunk Camp. I first walked into that camp at 14. In 2026 I stood at the front of the room with my mentor Dennis Yu and taught 76 dunkers the brand side of this sport. I wrote that night in my Dunk Camp recap. The on-court advice has not changed since I was the kid in the back of the room. Get a low rim and do the dunk.
Why this league matters for the sport
I said on air that DunkMan means everything to me. I am 18 and the youngest person in the league. Plenty of dunkers older than me have been hoping for a stage like this for a long time.
You can win contests and post clips and still not have a league, a $500,000 championship, or a weekly night on TNT. This is the first professional league, tournament style, and everyone is going for crazy dunks because the format and the money ask for it.
I am excited to be in it, and excited for the dunkers who put their whole lives into this. Perry closed by talking about the world dunk championship and the $500,000 grand prize. Then he said he would stay in the audience. That is the right split. He covers it. I dunk it.
Where to watch, and what I said I would do next
Watch the YouTube upload at the top of this page. That is my recording of the hit, titled Fox 5 Atlanta – Dylan Haugen DunkMan (8/7/2026). FOX 5 also posted the station’s DunkMan clip under “Shaq launches $500k dunk league at Atlantic Station.”
The first TV story is the KARE 11 gym story. The stage work is on my Speaking page. Both hits live on the News page. I host the Dunk Talk podcast with Hunter Castona, I run the Minnesota Dunk Squad, and off the court I co-founded Local Service Spotlight with Dennis, whose company is the BlitzMetrics site.
I told Perry I would be there Sunday. Watch the clip at the top, then find the next night on TNT or HBO Max.
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