Frédéric Weis basketball career was eviscerated on this day exactly 20 years ago by none other than Vinsanity.
Well, at least Weis’ NBA career aspirations.
The most disrespectful dunk in international basketball competition history happened on September 25, 2000 during the preliminary rounds of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. It will never be forgotten.
There were about 16 minutes left in the game. The United States vs. France. It was entering garbage time and the U.S. was up 69-54.
Vince Carter. competing on his first U.S. Olympic team, gobbled up the ball in France’s backcourt sprinting up the floor in the opposite direction. A few steps later, Carter bolstered his wings and didn’t care that 7-foot-2 French center, Weis, jumped in front of him to take the charge.
The 6-foot-6 Carter was going all in, punching it through the netted hoop clearing the center.
To this day, many fans are still left wondering how Carter did it.
French media described the dunk as le dunk de la mort = The dunk of death.
That’s beyond embarrassing.
The United States won the game 106-94.
After the game, Weis showed some contentment about it.
“Everybody will know my face now or my number, at least,” Weis told reporters after the game. “It’s going to be on a poster, for sure.”
That correct prediction certainly didn’t advance his career one inch. If anything his prospects plummeted the moment he took his France jersey that day.
The year before the Games, the New York Knicks were the chumps that drafted him with the 15th overall pick, one ahead of hometown legend Ron Artest, which already had fans hating him. He wound up never playing in the NBA.
Like many of the Knicks draft selections over the past two-and-a-half decades, they have been more risk-junk than risk-reward.
Today’s reminder of “The Dunk of Death” gives us another reason to take a swing at the worst-managed franchise in the NBA. The dunk reaffirms the hops Carter had throughout his career while also delivering a side of disrespect. The fact that the Knicks wanted to add Weis to their roster deserves just as much attention.
The Knicks continue to enjoy the worst odds and make even more abysmal decisions with them. The dunking on every single boneheaded move they make continues to this day, 20 years on.
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