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Tory BarronESPN Editor
That’s 2016 NBA champion and “Dancing with the Stars” finalist Iman Shumpert for you.
Before Cleveland Cavaliers protect and New York Knicks The 2011 first-round draft pick made history when he and partner Daniella Karagach won a spot in the final round of the show’s 30th season.
While Shumpert isn’t the first former professional athlete to advance to the DWTS final, he is the first former NBA player to do so.
To be fair, he’s also the only one married to singer-songwriter, dancer, and choreographer Teyana Taylor. While we can’t say for certain that Taylor played a role in the 31-year-old’s competition preparations, have her in his corner Definitely no pain.
Whether Shumpert’s success spurred more NBA brothers to join remains to be seen, but he knows who will be likely to succeed.
“Kyrie Irving and Carmelo AnthonyThey have good footwork. Guys with good footwork,” he explains in an interview with Page Six.
Before Shump tries to join the likes of Emmitt Smith, Laurie Hernandez and Hines Ward as Mirror Ball champions, we’re taking a look back at his electric dance journey that brought the world to our attention and made them I am acutely aware of my lack of coordination:
Into the final…
Team DanIman, with Iman and Daniella mentioned on the show, wowed the semifinalists with their jazz routine with Kanye West’s “Dark Fantasy” (featuring Teyana Taylor) . If you watch the video above, you will have almost no question as to why they earned a score of 38 out of 40.
In case tantalizing choreography and perfect serve weren’t reason enough for fans to vote for Shumpert, the former Cavs player yelled at his former teammate. LeBron James with Los Angeles Lakers Celebrating “Silencer” signed by the star.
Hopefully the nod to King James is enough to get LeBron fans to pledge their allegiance to Iman in the finale. He’ll need all the help he can to face off against Amanda Kloots, Cody Rigsby and JoJo Siwa and her devoted fan base, Siwanatorz (Siwa alone boasts 11.1 million Instagram followers. ).
Breakthrough dance…
In every hero’s journey there is a moment, a turning point that propels the protagonist on the path to fulfilling their destiny. If Shump wins the elusive Mirror Ball trophy, we can all point to the “Night of Terror” dance and say “this is it.”
The contemporary custom was inspired by the critically-acclaimed 2019 Jordan Peele horror film “Us” and featured in “I Got 5 On It (Tethering Mix)”. The duo transformed into characters with red overalls like the murderous dalmatians or killers, featured in the film and delivering the same haunting facial expressions and demeanor as the other characters. villain.
Their commitment to detail paid off, as all four judges awarded Shumpert and Karagach 10 maximum points, giving the team their first perfect score (40) of the season. The judges were also full of praise.
“You took us to another world,” said judge Carrie Ann Inaba. “My mind was blown, it was absolute perfection.”
Judge Derek Hough agreed with Inaba and described the dance as a routine that “people will watch over and over again.”
And finally, judge Bruno Tonioli echoed the sentiment, concluding: “It’s your masterpiece performance.”
What fans are saying…
The judges weren’t the only ones enthralled by the duo’s October 25 performance. The process went viral, garnering a reaction from fans of the show as well as NBA superstars.
Most notably, the LeBron guy we talked about earlier has this thought:
Man my WOOD @imanshumpert in his f’n 💼!!!!!! LFG 🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣. Don’t be pretentious, just respect the group! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/8SzL2th79q
– LeBron James (@KingJames) October 26, 2021
Well, that’s pretty much the sum total.
James’ support went unnoticed by his former teammate. Upon seeing LeBron’s enthusiastic review, Shump quickly fired a subtle shot at the possibility of joining King James & Co. on the Lakers’ all-star roster:
Once I’m actually captured in this mirror sphere… you know where to look for me… I’ll stay at La 🤷🏾♂️👀 https://t.co/DMGqjYun8A
– Imman. (@imanshumpert) October 27, 2021
Hey, if JR Smith can get a ring in 2020, anything is possible.
Most bedtime routines…
The same is true of any great artist who has amassed an extensive portfolio of works, with differing opinions on what qualifies as Shumpert’s finest work. Just as someone might sing to Adele’s smashing “Rolling in the Deep” or generational ballad “Hello,” others will claim her heartbreaking transparency about “Hold On.” takes the new track into a league of its own.
That said, while the semi-final “Night of Terror” and jazz performance received the most critical acclaim, this November 1 “Night of the Queen” is comparable. with “Another One Bites the Dust” (32 out of 40) being outstanding in its own right.
Did we just compare Shumpert the dancer with Adele the singer-songwriter? Yes, yes, we did. Just go with it.
Shump has range…
If there was any doubt about Team DanIman’s reach, it was stopped when they performed a tango to Martynas’s “Telephone” (37 out of 40) in the semifinals. The same night they performed with the jazz show “Dark Fantasy”? Correct.
We’re not going to pretend to have a lot of dance knowledge, but if the experts – er, those in the comments section of the YouTube page “Dancing with the Stars” – are to be believed, the duo show a close bond. Despite their height difference, Iman’s choreography is excellent, and Iman’s posture has improved significantly throughout the season.
Here’s hoping the plaudits above were enough to bring Mirror Ball home to the sports world despite a star-studded finale.
As Shumpert explained on “The Real” last week, he “didn’t get on the show to lose.” But he’ll have to bring his A-game to beat what he considers his biggest rival: Siwa.
“My daughter can vote for her,” Shumpert said of the fun on YouTube with a smile.
Meanwhile, Taylor had a part of tips for how her husband can win on Monday: “Sell it.”
