Hensy Sako interview: How 6ft 1in tall Sheffield Sharks rookie won BBL Slam Dunk contest and won new fans

In front of a packed house at Birmingham Arena for the men’s and women’s BBL Cup finals, the 20-year-old, 6ft 1in point guard beat the best dunkers in the BBL - among them his Sharks team-mate Marcus Delpeche - who at 6ft 7in is half a foot taller than Sako.

"You wouldn’t usually have someone who is below 6ft 2in winning a slam dunk contest,” Sako admitted to The Yorkshire Post.

"But look at someone like Russell Westbrook (Los Angeles Lakers), a player who is small and a good dunker. When you’re smaller you have an advantage because no one expects someone who is 6ft 1in to jump over three people. It looks more spectacular.”

It certainly wowed the raucous crowd between the London Lions winning both the women’s and men’s BBL Cup finals. Sako overcame Plymouth City Patriots forward James Hawthorne Jr. 47-38 in the final round to win the trophy.

Amongst his highlights was a one-handed slam over three fans in attendance that got the only perfect score of the contest. And needing just 12 points to win, Sako clinched the title with a high-flying two-hand dunk.

"In my head I was confident, I felt like I was going to win," continued Sako, who revealed he was consulting with friends in between dunks on what he would attempt next. "Whilst I was waiting for the others to go, my friends were giving me ideas about dunks, which ones to execute and which ones would impress the crowd.

"I’ve always been able to jump high so it came naturally to me and I was always looking to try out new things on YouTube.

"I don’t really work on dunking, but now that I’m playing with the professional team at Sharks we work out a lot more, working on our legs, our core, so everything we do on a day-to-day basis improves your leaping ability.

"It’s not something I’ve been aiming towards, it’s just something that’s come because of the professional environment.”

Born and raised in London, Sako took the decision three years ago to move up to South Yorkshire to study at Sheffield College and increase his chances of making it to the BBL by playing for the college team.

“I moved to Sheffield to get more exposure,” he said, mindful that there was a deeper player pool in London that meant it was hard to get noticed. "Because Sheffield had a BBL team, me and a friend thought going to a smaller area would increase our chances of getting noticed.”

The plan worked. Sako came to Sheffield’s attention in May 2021 but had already signed a deal with an Italian professional team. A year later after spells in Italy and Spain, Sako signed with the Sharks in the summer of 2022.

"Atiba Lyons told me he’d been impressed that someone had been making so much noise in the local basketball community," said Sako.

He certainly generated plenty of noise in Birmingham, and to the delight of 777 Partners - the big investors in the league who are trying to generate a wider fanbase - his dunking exploits have caught the eye of new fans.

“My phone has been blowing up with messages,” laughed Sako. “New people that aren't necessarily familiar with basketball are getting in touch and saying they now know who I am. If my dunking has played a small part in basketball getting bigger in the UK then I’m happy.”