The NBA All-Star Weekend recently concluded, leaving basketball enthusiasts with mixed feelings. Most of them are more negative than positive. Yes, the weekend had its moments with the Stephen vs Sabrina challenge and the three-point contest. But, overall, the fans were left wanting more. Starting with the NBA Skills Challenge to the Slam Dunk Contest and ending with the All-Star Game. The sheer lack of effort by the NBA stars irked many NBA analysts, including Shannon Sharpe.
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ESPN’s First Take analysts Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe were utterly disappointed by the show put on by the best players in the league. They talked about the Slam Dunk Contest, which has not been living up to its billing for quite a while now, and Shannon had this to say,
“Aaron Gordon jumped over Tacko Fall. Mac McClung jumped over Shaq. Jaylen Brown jumped over Kai Cenat. What am I supposed to do with that Stephen A? They should have gave him a 2 across the board… [Brown] got 40+ points.”
Shannon prefaced his argument by stating that the participants in the Slam Dunk contest have become largely unknown, unlike the earlier days when superstars lined up to compete. The only players he knew were Jaylen Brown and Mac McClung. Sharpe went on to rip Jaylen Brown for dunking over a shorter person – Kai Cenat, rather than his predecessors jumping over taller players like Shaquille O’Neal and Tacko Fall. To add to the embarrassment, Kai Cenat was made to sit on a chair when Brown dunked over him. The NBA analyst believed that the Celtics player should have gotten 2 out of 50 for his effort and was appalled that the judges gave him a 40+ score.
If compare the dunks in this year’s contest to the Aaron Gordon and Zach Lavine show, it is clear that none of them deserved a 40. Sharpe did give McClung flowers for putting on a show, but even he could not save the event. The dunk contest has been declining for a while, and the fans would hope that the NBA does something to revive it to its previous glory. The NBA has its task cut out for them as the All-Star weekend is slowly turning into a snooze-fest.
Michael Rapaport sounds off on the dunk contest
The 2024 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest left many disappointed and questioning the future of the event. The most talked about event in the NBA is broken into shambles and becoming difficult to watch with every passing year. Hollywood actor and an avid NBA fan – Michael Rapaport, took to Instagram to express his frustration over the event and said:
“This is the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. You gotta have active NBA players who are on NBA rosters…I know you all [active NBA players] need rest. Dominique didn’t need rest, Dr. J didn’t need rest, Vince Carter didn’t need rest…Rest up, and let YouTube guys, let streetball players get into it, let college players get into it. You sit there and ice your knees and don’t participate. This sh*t isn’t bouncing.”
The actor believes that if the NBA players aren’t up to the challenge, we should open it up to college players and freestyle dunk artists. He believes the NBA players are tarnishing the reputation of their predecessors who competed to win. The dunk contest has had players like Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins, Vince Carter, and Kobe Bryant in the past. However, in the past decade, only a few of the NBA big names have taken up the challenge.
