Toppin tied the shoes of one smaller camper. He threw down one of his famous Eastbay dunks, the between-the-legs slammed he debuted at UD Arena almost six years ago, against one of the kids chosen to play him.
Toppin has made the two-day camp a summer tradition in Dayton. It has added to his legacy with the Dayton Flyers four years after he won all the major national player of the year awards in his final season in college basketball.
“I’m super blessed to be back here,” Toppin said. “It keeps growing. More and more kids come. I’m always happy to come back here and see the smiles on the kids’ faces.”
Toppin had plenty of help. A group of Dayton men’s basketball players assisted as coaches at the camp. Nate Santos, Javon Bennett, Jacob Conner, Atticus Schuler, Makai Grant, Evan Dickey and Will Maxwell were at the camp on Wednesday.
Toppin, a 6-foot-9 forward from Ossining, N.Y., sat out his freshman season at Dayton as an academic redshirt, played two seasons and left for the NBA after the 2019-20 season when he was the consensus national player of the year. He ranks 41st in UD history with 1,096 points.
Toppin helped lead Dayton to 20 straight victories, a No. 3 national ranking and a 29-2 record in his final season only to see the postseason canceled by the pandemic.
Dayton returned to the NCAA tournament this past season for the first time since that crushing disappointment. Toppin said he watched the games with former Dayton teammate Jalen Crutcher.
“To see them in the tournament, it was a blessing,” Toppin said.
Toppin has spent the last four seasons in the NBA. Last season, he averaged a career-best 10.3 points and 3.8 rebounds in his first season with the Pacers last season after three seasons with the New York Knicks, who drafted him eighth overall in 2020.
“Year one in Indy? It was amazing,” Toppin said. “We had some of the best coaches, the best players.”
Toppin signed a four-year, $60 million contract extension in July to stay with the Pacers.
“It’s a blessing,” Toppin said. “My family is super happy. I’m super happy to go back to Indy and have another great season.”
Toppin helped lead the Pacers to their first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 10 years. He was one of nine players to average 10 points or more. He was the only player on the roster to appear in all 82 games in the regular season. He started 28 games.
“We’ve got a chip on our shoulder,” Toppin said. “A lot of people didn’t think we’d do what we did last year, and I feel like some people still think that now. We have a bunch of great young guys on our team who love to work.”
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