Rookies Matas Buzelis of the Chicago Bulls and Stephon Fortress of the San Antonio Spurs are set to compete within the dunk contest throughout NBA All-Star Weekend. ESPN’s Shams Charania was first to report.
These names don’t soar off the web page while you consider who you’d prefer to see within the contest.
Buzelis has 18 dunks on the season whereas Fortress has 25. Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the NBA in dunks with 140.
To Buzelis’ credit score, he has appeared in a dunk contest and proven off some creativity. He could also be a sleeper choose who’ll shock with some cool concepts.
The dunk contest, although, is nothing with out hype. From star sights to completely used props to league hype man Kenny Smith, this can be a competitors at All-Star weekend that wants glitz and glamour to excite the lots.
Whereas there are nonetheless two extra names to be confirmed for the 2025 version, it appears extraordinarily unlikely that the likes of Ja Morant or Anthony Edwards might be concerned.
Mac McClung was superb to look at in a vacuum, however the general high quality of these dunk contests didn’t make them stand out as a complete.
We have to begin the Matas Buzelis Dunk Contest marketing campaign ASAP @nba @NBAAllStar #nbaallstar pic.twitter.com/KamveGJ6n6
— Ross Pins (@chisportsross) January 17, 2025
What Occurred To Star Energy?
It’s unhappy that it’s grow to be an expectation fairly than a shock that stars don’t need to take part on this competitors anymore.
Jaylen Brown’s participation within the contest final season was the primary time an All-Star was concerned since DeAndre Jordan in 2017.
Followers are left solely with their creativeness to image what it is perhaps prefer to see Morant go up towards Edwards or Zion Williamson in a dunk contest. Take that in for a second: Morant, Edwards, Williamson, and maybe Giannis Antetokounmpo all within the dunk contest.
Now that might be leisure the followers undoubtedly wouldn’t need to miss.
As a substitute, in a day and age the place picture is every thing, stars have grow to be more and more protecting of their egos and standing. There’s extra to be misplaced in probably embarrassing themselves in a dunk contest than there’s in entertaining the followers and a minimum of making an attempt to placed on a present.
The final actually nice dunk contest was in 2020, when Miami’s Derrick Jones Jr. edged out Orlando’s Aaron Gordon courtesy of some biased judging from Dwyane Wade.
Prevalence Of Skilled Dunkers
One other a part of the issue for the league has been the rise {of professional} dunkers.
Man Dupuy, Jordan Kilganon, and Isaiah Rivera have been among the many finest skilled dunkers in historical past. The creativity they’ve been capable of present and the dunks they’ve been capable of execute have already created an ordinary that’s powerful to match.
On the All-Star recreation in 2016, Kilganon carried out his patented Scorpion dunk that not solely had followers on their toes however the All-Stars trying on in disbelief.
If you add in the truth that so many alternative dunks have already been accomplished over the course of historical past, creativity now’s as difficult as ever for NBA athletes taking part on this competitors.
Rookie Stephon Fortress has agreed to do the Dunk Contest this season, per @ShamsCharania 🔥👏 pic.twitter.com/1qocA2D7o3
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 20, 2025
3-Level Contest Is Fundamental Occasion
Courtesy the Steph Curry revolution, the three-point contest has now grow to be the primary occasion.
Having celebrity names 12 months in and 12 months out actually helps issues, however the format itself is such that it creates for engrossing leisure.
Maybe the dunk contest may even take a web page out of the three-point contest in making an attempt to grasp how star gamers are so keen to take part in that. It’s not like anybody actually remembers or will get severely trolled for placing up a low rating within the three-point contest.
Therein lies an concept as properly. We could have reached some extent the place having the three-point contest as the ultimate occasion of All-Star Saturday Evening could also be the easiest way to go.
If dunking is out, three-pointers actually aren’t.
