Bol Bol’s spinning, coast-to-coast dunk was as beautiful and weird as he is

Bol Bol was always supposed to be an elite basketball prospect. Coming out of high school at Nevada’s Findlay Prep, Bol was considered a top-5 recruit in a class that also included Zion Williamson, Darius Garland, Tyler Herro, Anfernee Simons, and many more. I wrote a feature on Bol as a high school player and imagined greatness in his future. He committed to Oregon where he was supposed to be one of the country’s must-see one-and-done freshmen, but a season-ending foot injury limited him to only nine games.

Bol declared for the draft anyway, and he slipped to the second round before he was selected by the Denver Nuggets with the No. 44 pick. It’s hard for any second round pick to crack an NBA rotation, and that’s particularly the case on a team with championship aspirations like the Nuggets. Bol languished on the bench until last season when the Nuggets agreed to trade him to the Detroit Pistons ... only for the trade to be voided when Bol failed a physical. He was eventually traded to the Orlando Magic, but never played a game because of injuries.

The Magic saw enough in Bol to re-sign him to a two-year contract. Finally, this season, Bol’s talent is fully coming into focus. Bol might be the front-runner for NBA Most Improved Player this season, putting up 12.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while shooting 60 percent for the Magic on the season. Those numbers seem pedestrian enough until you remember just how close Bol was from falling out the league entirely.

The improved numbers are nice, but they hardly capture the thrilling experience of watching Bol. At 7’2, 220 pounds with a reported 7’8 wingspan, Bol is as long as any regular rotation player in NBA history, and he plays nothing like a traditional big man. Bol captured the imagination of NBA fans again on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks with a coast-to-coast, grab-and-go dunk that mixed in a spin move for good measure. Watch the clip here:

How many 7’2 guys in NBA history are pulling down a rebound, dribbling the length of the floor, spinning around a defender, and finishing with a dunk? Bol is one. Next year, Victor Wembanyama will make it two. That’s how rare his physical tools and skill set are. Not bad for a second round pick.

The Magic are still terrible, and Bol is looking like a solid rotation piece if not a future mega-star like Wembayama. Bol needs to shoot more threes to tap into the sky-high shooting upside I saw in him entering the draft — so far, he’s making 40 percent from deep but on very low volume. He needs to continue to add strength to his frame, and find ways for his handle and finishing to be functional in the halfcourt, not just in transition.

Either way, Bol is both immensely improved this season, and one of the most fun players to watch in the NBA. The Magic may not win very often, but between Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Markelle Fultz, and Bol, they have one of the most fun young rosters in the league.