One can make the argument that Ja Morant is one of the best dunkers in the NBA today. The Memphis Grizzlies guard has shown proficiency for taking the ball to the hole with great strength, ferocity, and leaping ability.
Despite only being in the league for 2 years now, Morant has established himself as a regular dunk threat. Morant can dunk the basketball over the best of them and isn’t afraid of anyone when it comes to slamming the ball in the net.
His exclusion from the NBA’s Dunk Contest last year may have been down to limiting the participants due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Regardless, Morant hasn’t made his feelings shy about the dunk contest, even Tweeting out that the judges were being too harsh during the 2020 iteration.
judges are wilding 🤦🏽♂️
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) February 16, 2020
And now, he has revealed that it would take an exorbitant sum of money to get him to participate in the dunk contest. In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, Morant revealed that he would ask for $1 million to participate in the event.
He isn’t a fan of the dunk contest, primarily because of how strict the officiating is, and how the dunks do go underappreciated because of this. He feels like judges make their decisions based on how easy the dunk looked, and isn’t interested in having his abilities be scrutinized like that.
Ja Morant tells @taylorrooks that he needs $1 MILLION to do the NBA Dunk Contest
Watch the full episode: https://t.co/sZ1uTFyB3I https://t.co/z2VLoweoen
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 27, 2021
“A million dollars.”
“Judging, the past two years. I was like, ‘Nah,’.They give me a mill, I’ll go in the dunk contest. Otherwise, I’ll be watching, sending out my tweets judging and stuff.”
“How many people can actually do this dunk?” Morant said. “Just because people make dunks look easy, it’s not. They look at is, ‘That was too easy.’ 8 instead of a 10.”
“I feel like now you just see so many crazy dunks in-game that when the dunk contest comes, you don’t appreciate the dunk as much.”
Morant is by no means built for dunking. He stands at 6’3 and is by no means one of the tallest players in the league. But his leaping ability combined with his freakish athleticism and aggression that makes his dunks such a highlight to watch.
Surprisingly, Morant has never been part of the dunk contest the last 2 seasons he has been in the league. Him missing out in his rookie year was a surprise, especially how he had one of the best dunks by any player in the league that season.
And from his comments here, it appears he won’t be making an appearance at the contest any time soon.
