ORLANDO, Fla. -- The first day of NBA summer league action isn't over -- but the play of the summer season may have already occurred. Second-year Indiana Pacers point guard Joe Young roared down the floor midway through the third quarter of Saturday's game against the Orlando Magic Blue squad and threw down a hellacious dunk over Magic guard Nick Johnson.
"I've been doing it for years," Young said, confidently. "But people are starting to recognize it."
The Oregon alum fell to the floor after the dunk and appeared to be in pain, but stayed in the game after Pacers summer league coach Popeye Jones thought about taking him out.
"Just to show that I'm a tough guy," Young said. "I don't want to be the one that dunks on somebody and then comes out limping. I just wanted to get up on my own and show that I had the toughness in me to play at the next level and play at an All-Star level. That's what great players do -- show that if it hurts, just show them that it don't hurt."
Jones knew as soon as Young went up for the dunk that he would finish it off.
"It's funny because I knew he was going to make it because he jumps better off the wrong leg," Jones said. "He jumps better going off his right leg with his left hand. So I knew he was going to make it, but I was just hoping that he didn't hurt himself seriously because I know this is a big week for him, and we got four more games and we need him in there, and we want to see him playing."
Young said that one of his cell phones died because so many people were calling and texting him about the dunk after it quickly went viral on social media. The 24-year-old wore a smile on his face after the game and a gold necklace with a small gold $100 bill hanging from it in honor of all the huge contracts many NBA players have been agreeing to over the 48 hours since free agency began.
"Congrats to everybody [Friday]," Young said. "It was an amazing day. When I seen that, I started wearing my chain a little bit. But congrats to everybody on their success and their contracts."