The dunk contest used to be one of the most highly anticipated events during the NBA All-Star weekend. Unfortunately, long gone are the days of Dwight Howard dressing up like Superman and Vince Carter whispering “It’s over” to the camera after bringing down the house.
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Nowadays top talents in the league actively refuse to participate in the contest since there is no incentive for them, leaving the NBA to bring back names like G-League player Mac McClung, the defending two-time slam dunk contest champion. As exciting as McClung is at dunking, he’s not an NBA star.
Most NBA players lack the incentive to risk an injury for the lure of a dunk contest. They also choose to take a few days off in the middle of a hectic season during the All-Star break.
This was the topic of conversation in a recent edition of the Run It Back show featuring Lou Williams, Michelle Beadle, Chandler Parsons, and guest panelist Darius Garland from the Cavaliers. Garland floated the idea that offering star NBA players large sums of money might entice them to participate in the formerly prestigious dunk contest.
“We need to up the bonus or something,” Garland stated. After suggesting $250K as a price point, he added, “We could get Ja or Zion, somebody. I know they don’t wanna dunk no more and all the other comments they said but if that money is talking.”
“If you hold the $1M up, I’ll be in the Dunk Contest and I can barely dunk.”
Could a $1,000,000 bonus entice Ja Morant and Zion Williamson to compete in the NBA Dunk Contest?@dariusgarland22 and our crew discuss…@MichelleDBeadle | @ChandlerParsons | @TeamLou23 pic.twitter.com/4EQV2z3wcH
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) February 13, 2025
Lou Williams disagreed with Garland. He doesn’t think money will solve the problem as most players are making far too much already. But he did suggest that upping it to a million “might” do the trick.
Meanwhile, Beadle jumped in, making the point that the NBA could offer these sums of money and still get a no from the big-name talents. So in the end, it could all be a waste.
This led to a deeper conversation about the All-Star weekend in general — where the entire panel agreed that most of the league doesn’t wish to participate in the annual festivities any longer, especially the dunk contest. Williams then made a note about how fans won’t go for lesser names.
“The fans, they want to see the best of the best. It is what it is. No disrespect to anybody. Fans, they wanna see their stars,” Williams stated.
Regardless of what a player’s reason is for skipping the All-Star weekend, it is a drag for fans who paid their hard-earned money to see their favorite hoopers in action. So this growing tendency might be putting the ASG in a kind of existential crisis in the future.
