Abolish The NBA Slam Dunk Contest

The 2022 NBA All-Star Saturday event, featuring the Skills Challenge and the Three-Point and Slam Dunk Contests, has concluded. The annual event serves as a prelude to the league’s annual All-Star Game held a day later and features the top players, while the others rest up in preparation for the regular season’s stretch run and postseason play. The Skills Challenge added some new wrinkles and provided its usual fun. The Three-Point Contest ended with Karl Anthony Towns giving players 6’10” and over additional incentive to become accurate basketball marksmen from 25 feet away from the basket and beyond. Then came the event annually saved for last and promoted as the headliner, the Slam Dunk Contest. For reasons that have little to do with just the 2022 contest, won by New York’s Obi Toppin, or its participants, it’s time to abolish the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

THE TOP PLAYERS WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH IT

When the Slam Dunk Contest was in its infancy, the excitement built around the league’s top players’ participation. In 1976, the ABA got the ball rolling with several of its top players, including Julius Erving, David Thompson, and George Gervin, participating. In the early years of the NBA version, the battle between star players made the Slam Dunk Contest a “can’t miss” event. Perennial All-Stars like Michael Jordan and five-time participant (and two-time winner) Dominique Wilkins would enter the competition on multiple occasions. And we all wanted to see the 5’6″ Spud Webb rise and dunk. Later, stars like Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant would enter–and win–competitions.

In subsequent years, star players like Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin would win contests, but the pattern of lesser-known players participating in the event had already become apparent. The list of past winners and participants contains recognizable names like John Wall and Zach Lavine, but these players tend to sign on early in their careers. There’s too much at stake for the league’s established, high-earning players to participate.

Lebron James, now in his 19th NBA season, has never participated in the league’s Slam Dunk Contest.

EVERY DUNK WITHIN REASON HAS BEEN DONE ALREADY

There are limits to the number of things an athlete can do with the ball while in the air before dunking it and we’ve seen them already. However, some tweaks in terms of force, flair, and degree of difficulty as well as presentation may distinguish some dunks from others, and the players of today know this. As a result, the mostly young participants must now come up with something we’ve never seen before while trying to impress a very intimidating group of stone-faced Hall of Famers and former contest winners serving as judges. And largely, they’ve been able to be creative. Zach Lavine was really good in his consecutive wins in 2015 and 2016, Many fans believe Aaron Gordon was robbed of victory by the judges in both 2016 and 2020, where he dunked over the 7’5″ Tacko Fall. But clearly the bar has been raised over time, which is not the fault of the contemporary player.

So we’ve seen our share of players trying to jump over a friend or teammate, catch a pass in mid-air and dunk all in one motion. We’ve also seen players miss most of those dunks. Decades ago, a 360- degree spin in mid-air, a dunk from the free-throw line, or a windmill dunk were celebrated because they were innovative. Those same dunks would result in courtesy claps from the live audience and blank stares followed by low, disqualifying scores from the judges today.

And the players know this as well.

NOW IT GETS DANGEROUS

Eleven years ago, we saw a 21-year-old Blake Griffin jump over the hood of a Kia and dunk off a pass through the sunroof from Baron Davis, accompanied by a gospel singing “I Believe I Can Fly.” The dunk itself wasn’t as creative as we’ve seen in other settings, but the presentation won the day. But if you have to jump over a car to win a Slam Dunk Contest, it might be time to rethink the concept. The folks who run NBA franchises (and their fans) would rather not see their players taking these gambles. And many of us ended up talking more about the leap over the car than the dunk itself.

The 2022 version of the contest saw some nice creativity in the air from its young participants, but a low percentage of the dunks were successful. But dunks completed years ago won’t fly (pun intended) now. Obi Toppin missed his first dunk attempt (going behind his back in the air while jumping over a guy), lost his balance, and ended up going headlong into a row of spectators. Orlando’s second-year point guard Cole Anthony was the contest’s smallest competitor and just a couple of years removed from a severe knee injury. He attempted his first dunk while wearing Timberlands and later ended up banging his hand on the rim attempting a powerful dunk. Houston Rockets’ rookie and first overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft Jalen Green almost hit his head on the rim on a couple of his attempts while catching a pass but missed repeatedly and ran out of gas after several tries.

BASKETBALL FANS STILL LOVE THE SLAM DUNK

We still watch games in person or on television and walk away talking about “the dunk” that took place. Many times it’s an alley-oop pass caught and deposited with force, but the most memorable dunks nowadays are the ones over a taller defender attempting to block it. The poster dunk is now discussed at greater length and seen on more sports highlight shows than the fancy or forceful dunk with no defender around.

This does not suggest that the league add defenders to the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. That would now jeopardize several more players as the competition ramps up. Quite the contrary, the NBA Slam Dunk Contest should be eliminated from the All-Star Saturday festivities. The Skills Challenge and Three-Point Contest are safer, and the results are precise, without subjectivity affecting the results. Don’t remove the NBA Slam Dunk Contest as the final event of the evening and change the order as has been suggested, remove it altogether.

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest in its current state has run its course. It’s over.

LEAVE THE NBA PLAYERS ALONE

The players have already completed about 70 percent of the marathon NBA regular season before the All-Star Break. Continue the weekend festivities, retain the other events, add another event to give the WNBA some spotlight and play the All-Star Game as the players have figured out how to conserve energy. Leave the Slam Dunk Contest out of it. Let those young players rest. Most of them have already hit the infamous “wall” and need the break, anyway. They’re being unfairly roasted for not finishing these contortionist dunks in mid-air while catching passes from the non-players they’re jumping over, and there’s too much risk involved.

If the league absolutely must have a Slam Dunk Contest, thousands of professional dunkers not in the NBA who would relish the opportunity to compete for prize money and perform on All-Star weekend. Have some regional tournaments American Idol-style, then go national with the top four participants battling it out on All-Star Saturday. Let the fans vote for the winner or select a committee of more than the five judges they have now. It’s better to give some unknown athletes a chance to win prize money than to have established or developing NBA players risk losing theirs.

Leave the NBA players alone and abolish the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

Photo by TUAN NGUYEN from Pexels