Donovan Hawkins is one of the most underrated professional dunkers in the game right now, and on this episode of Dunk Talk, I (Dylan Haugen) finally got to sit down with him and my co-host Hunter Castona to talk about how he went from dunking on a backyard hoop to becoming one of the most explosive athletes in the dunk community. Hunter and I had just come from dunking with Donovan and Josh Ruble out in Missouri, and seeing Donovan’s power up close was genuinely jaw-dropping.
From the Backyard to Pro Dunker
Donovan is twenty years old, stands six foot three, and is originally from the St. Louis area. He started messing around with dunking at about fifteen years old on a low rim in his backyard. By fifteen or sixteen, he was throwing it down on a regulation ten-foot rim. What stood out to me right away is how natural his athleticism is. Hunter put it perfectly when he said Donovan is one of the most underrated dunkers in the community right now. If you have not seen his content, you need to check him out because the guy absolutely punches everything and jumps out of the gym.
Training and Lifting Numbers
We got into Donovan’s training approach, and his numbers are solid for a dunker. He is back squatting 385 pounds, front squatting 275 for doubles, and his power clean is around 225, though he admitted the catch portion of the clean gives him some trouble. What I found interesting is that he actually watches Olympic weightlifting competitions for fun and tries to apply some of that knowledge to his own training. He has been more intentional about combining strength work with his jumping, and it clearly shows in how effortlessly he elevates. The combination of that natural athleticism with an increasingly structured approach to the weight room is what separates Donovan from a lot of dunkers who are strong but cannot translate it into their jump.
The Underboth and the Bounce Dunk Discussion
One of the biggest talking points was Donovan’s underboth dunks. Hunter brought up what Josh Ruble said on a previous episode about how Donovan basically bends completely in half on his underboths and then comes out with his head at rim level before punching the ball through. That visual is spot-on and is one of the wildest things to see in person. We also got into the bounce dunk, which is one of those mythical dunks that the entire community is watching for. We debated who might be the first to land it on a full ten-foot rim. I personally thought Donovan had a real shot at being first given his raw power, but we also mentioned guys like Kilganon and Isaiah Rivera as possibilities if they dedicated serious sessions to it. Donovan had been working on it and felt like he was getting close, so this is definitely one to keep an eye on.
GT Cuts and the Shoe Deep Dive
The shoe conversation was a highlight for me. Before filming this episode, I had been hanging out with Shankar, who is basically the shoe encyclopedia of the dunk community with over seventy pairs of basketball shoes and deep knowledge about all of them. I noticed Donovan had been wearing GT Cut 1s, 2s, and 3s, so I asked him about it. Donovan said the Nike GT Cut 1 is, in his opinion, objectively the best basketball shoe of all time. He loved the 3s so much that he owns five pairs, four of which he bought himself. The 2s? He called them mid. As someone who pays a lot of attention to what dunkers are wearing, this was a fun deep dive.
The Ten-Month Break and Instant Comeback
One of the more personal parts of the conversation was when Donovan talked about his ten-month break from dunking. It was the longest he had ever stepped away from the sport, and when I asked how long it took him to get back to form, his answer surprised me. He said it did not take long at all. The same day he decided to come back, he went to the park in forty-degree weather and was already throwing down. That speaks to how naturally gifted Donovan is as an athlete. His bounce comes back almost immediately, which is something a lot of dunkers cannot relate to. We also had a fun discussion about approach footwork since Donovan is a right-left plant jumper, opposite of me. He mentioned he actually experimented with left-right approaches for a couple of months and got up to an eastbay on nine foot ten and a half, which is insane for a non-dominant approach and shows the kind of raw athletic ability the guy has.
Why Dunk Camp Matters Beyond the Dunking
Dunk Camp came up a lot in this episode, and for good reason. Donovan went the year before, and we talked about what makes the event so special. For me, the best part of Dunk Camp is not even the dunking itself. It is the downtime. You get to hang out and talk dunking with people who think about it as much as you do. Dunking is still a niche community, and being around other people who spend half their day thinking about new dunk ideas and technique is something you cannot get anywhere else. That shared passion is what makes events like Dunk Camp so meaningful to all of us, and it is exactly why conversations like this one with Donovan feel so natural and easy to have.