Getting to Know Travis Reynolds
In Episode 21 of the Dunk Talk Podcast, I (Dylan Haugen) sat down with Travis Reynolds alongside co-host Hunter Castona for one of the most in-depth conversations we have had on the show. Travis is a 6-foot professional dunker from North Carolina who has built a reputation in the dunking community for his powerful style, his resilience through injuries, and his willingness to push the boundaries of what is possible at his height.
Travis introduced himself simply as a 22-year-old professional dunker, but the story behind that title is anything but simple. He grew up playing a handful of sports but was never a standout athlete. By his own admission, he was a chubby, overweight kid who played a little basketball without being very good at it. He also played football, soccer, and spent time doing Taekwondo, but none of those stuck as a long-term pursuit. The turning point came when he discovered dunking as its own thing separate from basketball.
From 210 Pounds to a Professional Dunker
One of the most striking parts of Travis’s story is his physical transformation. He was around 210 pounds when he first started seriously pursuing dunking in late 2019. At that time he was mostly doing basic one-handers and two-handers without any structured training plan. Everything changed when he joined THP, which helped him work through knee pain he was experiencing and put him on a proper training track. That was the first time he had ever lifted consistently for a long period, and the results were dramatic.
Travis cleaned up his diet, committed to jumping frequently, and combined that with consistent weight training. Within roughly six months he dropped from 210 pounds down to about 170 by around June 2020. That weight loss was a game changer for his vertical and his ability to do more advanced dunks. He went from basic one-handers to windmills, tomahawks, eventually behind-the-back dunks, and much more. The late 2019 to 2020 period was when the bulk of his progress came in, and he has not slowed down since.
Favorite Dunking Shoes and Gym Setup
We spent a good amount of time talking about shoes, which is always a fun topic on the show. Travis’s go-to pair is the Jordan Why Not, which he swears by for dunking. During the episode we actually looked them up live on StockX and Goat trying to find his size 12 for a good price. At one point we found them for around $140 to $150, which was way cheaper than the $238 listing we saw first. It was a funny moment but also practical since finding the right dunking shoe matters a lot for performance and injury prevention.
Travis is pretty fortunate with his gym situation in North Carolina. His YMCA has both rims close to 10 feet, and the blue gym he frequents has one rim at about 9 foot 10 and three quarters and another at roughly 9 foot 1.5 inches. He mentioned that most gyms in his area are close to regulation height, which has been good for his development since it forces him to always perform at a high level rather than relying on low rims to pad his clips.
The Injury History and Fighting Through Setbacks
The injury discussion was one of the most important parts of this episode. Travis has dealt with multiple significant setbacks including knee pain early in his journey, back issues that have been recurring, and a particularly rough stretch during the Wisconsin dunk camp. He described a flare-up where he was doing a bunch of one-foot jumping and hit an inverter on a 9 foot 6 rim, and his back completely disagreed with all those one-foot jumps. That episode was one of the worst flare-ups he had experienced outside of the Wisconsin incident.
What impressed me the most about Travis was his approach to managing these injuries rather than just pushing through recklessly. He invested in a reverse hyper machine, which he described as a key tool for maintaining his ability to train through back pain. He admitted it was expensive but said it was absolutely necessary because without it he could not really train at all. He also talked about learning to behave more with his training, not over-jumping, and taking the long view so he can continue making progress without being sidelined. By the time of our conversation, he said he had not had any real knee pain since around April, largely because he had been smarter about managing his one-foot jumping volume.
Signature Dunks and the Hide-and-Seek
Travis is known for some incredible dunks, and we dove deep into several of them during this episode. His behind-the-back dunk was a major milestone, and he made the point that once you get the technique down it becomes more about consistency than raw difficulty. The same applied to his off-hand dunks, though he admitted his off-hand is pretty limited compared to many other dunkers who jump at similar heights.
The hide-and-seek dunk was a highlight of the conversation. Travis was one of the few people to complete a hide-and-seek off two feet, and before he did it the only other person known to have done it off two was Jordan Kilganon. He described the technique in detail, explaining that the ball has to be caught right in front of the rim and slammed in immediately. Most of his misses come from slamming his hand against the rim and missing the ball entirely. He expressed a desire to see more people attempt it because he believes it is more achievable than people think. He also talked about his self-alley-oop technique, where he has a slower approach with a short penultimate step, so he has to throw the ball closer to the hoop rather than chucking it from behind the three-point line like some other dunkers do.
Vertical Jump and Future Goals
When we asked Travis about his vertical and his goals, his answer was refreshingly honest. He said he does not have a concrete number he is chasing like a 48 or 46 by a certain date. Instead his approach is that whenever he starts jumping higher he will take it, but he is more focused on learning new dunks and performing well at the heights he already reaches. He mentioned that at dunk camp the adrenaline probably pushed him to jump higher than normal, and he acknowledged that replicating that kind of peak performance alone in an empty gym is a completely different challenge.
We also talked about contests and events. Travis has not done a ton of competitions, but he made sure to mention that he beat Dan Gross in a dunk contest, which is something he gives Dan a hard time about to this day. It was a small competition between Travis, Dan, and Obie where Dan missed his last dunk and Travis made his. Travis joked that he has no business beating Dan overall but will never let him forget that one result.
Final Thoughts
This was one of the longest and most detailed episodes of the Dunk Talk Podcast, running nearly two hours, and Travis brought an incredible amount of insight to the table. From his weight loss transformation to his injury management philosophy to his breakdown of advanced dunk technique, there was something here for dunkers at every level. Travis embodies what it means to be persistent in this game. He has faced real setbacks, made real sacrifices, and continues to push the boundaries of what a 6-foot dunker can do. Make sure to follow Travis on Instagram at @TravisDunks and check out the full episode above for all the details we covered.