If you’re like most basketball fans, you probably think the dunk contest is getting more and more boring with each passing year.
It’s hard to blame you if you feel this way! The pacing is awkward, there are too many missed slams, and the props feel less unexpected and outlandish. It is always frustrating when the judges make careless mistakes and somehow it feels like the wrong guy always wins.
But the biggest problem of all is that we aren’t getting to watch the preferred dunkers throwing it down on this stage.
This year, we will see a lineup that is relatively underwhelming: Jericho Sims (Knicks), KJ Martin (Rockets), Trey Murphy (Pelicans), and Mac McClung (Delaware Blue Coats/Philadelphia 76ers).
For The Win’s NBA experts fantasized about a world with a much more thrilling group of dunkers competing for the crown. Here is what we all decided:
Shaedon Sharpe
We absolutely need this man in the dunk contest. I wasn’t fully convinced until he dunked on Kyle Kuzma and the backboard. His elevation probably stopped a full seven or eight inches before it was supposed to because his head hit the backboard. That’s insane bounce and we need more of that. The creativity part is always a huge question for new contestants. But look: The kid is 19. The imagination is still alive and well then. So, yeah, I think he’d do just fine.
— Mike D. Sykes
Ja Morant
I want to see a dunk contest performance from Ja Morant so disrespectful that it literally causes a skirmish. I want him to break the code, whatever the heck that means. I want to see him prematurely declare the Grizzlies are a dynasty before he takes off while his father, Tee Morant, heckles from the crowd. I want to see Morant’s teammate, Dillon Brooks, agitate the other contestants. I want them both to do the Griddy. But most important: I want to see Morant fly.
— Bryan Kalbrosky
Anthony Edwards
I still haven’t recovered from that dunk on Yuta Wantanabe. Maybe Yuta has, but I have not. We haven’t seen Ant get in his bag all that much in terms of fastbreak, more “Dunk Contest” style dunks. But his elevation and power displayed on his poster dunks leave me little doubt that he wouldn’t put on a show in front of the judges. We need it.
— Cole Huff
LeBron James
Look, he may be 38. His best leaping days may be far, far behind him. But we’ve wanted to see him in a dunk contest for … 20 years now. Now that he’s passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Lakers probably aren’t winning a title this year, why not lace ’em up and give us a show?
— Charles Curtis
Aaron Gordon ... and Zach LaVine!
I know we were only supposed to pick one player, but this is a joint package for me. Not only did these two give us the only good dunk contests of the last decade (or at least the only memorable ones), Gordon deserves a chance at payback! He was robbed when he participated and LaVine has to be there for the revenge to matter. Besides, we know Gordon is ready for it, because he teased potentially doing the contest this year if he was named an All-Star.
— Prince Grimes
