The 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season was full of high-flying dunks and show-stopping blocks, all of them with plenty of hangtime. When fans were given the opportunity to choose which player flew highest for the Turkish Airlines Flight Time Contest, they overwhelmingly chose Mathias Lessort of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens!
During the Greens' Regular Season Round 10 showdown against Real Madrid, Lessort played a pick-and-roll situation with Luca Vildoza in the high post. Real center Vincent Poirier hedged on the ball handler on defense, while Lessort started to roll to the basket. When he saw he had a clear advantage, Lessort picked up a bounce pass from Vildoza and soared to dunk over Poirier, who was too late in recovering, to bring the Greens' fans at OAKA Altion to their feet. It was one of the dunks of the season against a top-class shot blocker with plenty of hangtime.
Second in the fan voting was Gabriele Procida of ALBA Berlin, whose entry was an outstanding 360-degree dunk against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Poirier came in third place with a huge alley-oop dunk in traffic against Maccabi Playtike Tel Aviv.
Lessort, 28, is the second Turkish Airlines Flight Time Contest winner. Alen Smailagic of Partizan was the inaugural winner last season. Earlier this month, Lessort was also chosen to the All-EuroLeague First Team for the second consecutive season.