Ex-KU Jayhawks wing Johnny Furphy throws down one of the dunks of the NBA season
Indiana Pacers rookie Johnny Furphy has saved his best for the last part of his first NBA regular season.
The lanky 6-foot-9 former one-and-done college player at Kansas, who on March 27 hit a franchise-record setting 24th 3-pointer with 6:32 left in the Pacers’ 162-109 victory at Washington, on Friday night completed what’s been called one of the most impressive tomahawk dunks of the entire 2024-25 campaign.
Catching a pass in the left corner with 10:37 left in the second quarter of Friday’s 129-115 home loss to Orlando, Furphy pump faked and drove past Anthony Black toward the center of the lane.
He went up strong with the ball in his right hand, completing a one-handed slam over Goga Bitadze.
Later, in the final minute of the game, Furphy broke free for a sensational 2-handed slam.
The seldom-used Furphy came off the bench to score a career-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting (2 of 5 3s, 3 of 7 free throws) in 32 minutes. He also had six rebounds and three assists.
“That was pretty cool,” second-year forward Jarace Walker said to an Indy Star reporter postgame while sitting next to Furphy in the locker room. “Good job, big dog, getting on that rim. That was really athletic.”
Furphy’s previous career best scoring mark was 12 points against Brooklyn on Dec. 4. He’s scored in double figures in just two games so far his rookie season. He had a season-high eight rebounds against the Chicago Bulls. He had seven in a game against Brooklyn.
For the year the Melbourne Australia native has made 36.4% of his shots. He’s 12-of-38 from 3 for 31.6% while averaging 6.4 minutes per contest in 49 games. He’s logged double-digit minutes in 10 games while also playing this season for the G League’s Indiana Mad Ants.
“Furph’s fanbase has become bigger than I ever could imagine,” Indiana guard Tyrese Haliburton told the Indy Star on March 28 after a game in Washington; a group of Pacers fans attending the road game chanted ‘We Want Furphy!’ with 10 minutes left in Indy’s 53-point win.
Furphy checked into the game with 7:42 to go and then at the 6:32 mark hit the Pacers’ 24th 3-pointer, breaking the old franchise record for a single game.
He was still on the floor when Quenton Jackson hit another 3-pointer to break the Pacers’ franchise NBA record of 157 points set twice last year on their way to a 162-109 win. The Pacers that day hit 27 3-pointers, falling two shy of the NBA record of 29 owned by the Celtics and Bucks.
Their 162 points were the most scored by an NBA team this season and most by an NBA team in a game that did not head to overtime since March 16, 2008, when the Denver Nuggets beat the Seattle SuperSonics 168-116.
Of Furphy’s fans in the stands in D.C., the 20-year-old fan favorite from Australia told the Indy Star: “They were right behind the bench. I guess the people wanted to see me check in, and when I got called in there was a bit of excitement. So that was pretty cool.”
The Pacers have the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference for the upcoming NBA playoffs. Furphy said the close-knit Pacers are capable of a deep run.
Indiana will meet Milwaukee in a rematch of a 2024 first-round playoff series, which saw a sixth-seeded Pacers squad defeat the third-seeded Bucks.
“Honestly, I don’t really know what other NBA teams are like, but I heard from a lot of people that what we’ve got going is pretty special here. We’ve got a really tight knit group. Everybody wants to see each other succeed. What we’ve got is pretty special,” Furphy said.
Furphy averaged 14.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 10 games this season for the G League Mad Ants. He hit 32.7% of his 3s.
He had 29 points against the Windy City Bulls on 10-of-14 shooting. He scored in double figures seven times with three double-doubles.
“The Pacers see Furphy as someone who can eventually be a contributing member of the rotation. He has a good shooting stroke and length to help on the defensive side of the ball,” wrote Ryan Stano of SI.com.
Furphy, who was the 35th overall pick of the 2024 draft by San Antonio and traded to Indy, is completing the first year of a four-year contract. According to Tony East of SI.com, his rookie contract paid Furphy $1.85 million in the first year and has a team option in the fourth year.
“He’s just a pure competitor,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle told the Indy Star on Friday. “Everything about him is pure. He doesn’t have a selfish bone in his body. Does everything hard. Does everything with the right spirit. Tonight he was obviously a bright spot in this game, just with the activity, the running. The dunks, people get excited when a young player makes a play like that, but his overall vibe is a winning vibe.”
Carlisle added that Furphy is “a really, really good prospect for the NBA.”
“He’s had a lot of quality minutes for us,” Carlisle continued. “The things that draw us to him are his rebounding, his running, his energy. He’s got a developing skill level. He’s shooting the ball much better. He’s really worked on it. As a 3 man at 6-8 or 6-9, that’s really good positional size and defensively he really works at it.”
Furphy said the NBA has been “a big adjustment. You’re going against grown men. It was something I really had to think about. I enjoy playing against physicality. It’s something that comes pretty natural to me. You’re trying not to back down, trying to hit first, that sort of thing. I think as I continue to grow and my body starts to fill out. I think that’s going to become a lot easier for me.”
This story was originally published April 12, 2025 at 2:33 PM with the headline "Ex-KU Jayhawks wing Johnny Furphy throws down one of the dunks of the NBA season."
