Jalen Johnson's Dunk Over Austin Reaves Deserves Its Own Moment After Being Overshadowed By Anthony Edwards

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Anthony Edwards snatching John Collins' soul from his body with what was undoubtedly the dunk of the NBA season rightfully garnered every ounce of attention in the basketball world on Monday night. However, Jalen Johnson delivered a dunk against the Lakers that deserves its flowers as well.

Johnson picked up a bounce pass from Dejounte Murray at mid-court and decided at that exact moment he was going to attack the rim with vengeance. He wasn't concerned about the fact that 6-foot-5 Austin Reaves was standing underneath the basket.

Johnson took flight and nearly jumped over Reaves, but unfortunately for the Lakers' guard, he got a face full of Johnson's thigh while being put on a poster.

Apologies to Reaves for highlighting this photo from the dunk, but my goodness.

 (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

What makes Johnson's dunk even wilder is that it was the first basket of the game. I'm no NBA historian, but that has to be the greatest dunk to ever open the scoring in a game in league history.

One would have thought that Johnson assaulting Reaves at the rim would have set the tone for the Hawks on Monday night, but when it was all said and done, Atlanta lost the game 136-105. 

Johnson had a night to remember, not only for the dunk, but he finished the night with 25 points, nine rebounds, and four assists.

As for comparing it to Edwards' dunk against the Jazz, it's almost an apples-to-oranges situation.

Johnson's dunk was a bit more of a classic given that he actually popped the rim while Edwards' slam was much more of the modern era as he threw the basketball into the basket.

Either dunk you want to crown, neither is a bad option.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.