One of the few achievements left in the NBA that LeBron James has never accomplished is winning the NBA’s Dunk Contest. Even though he has been famous for his freakish athleticism and rim-rocking dunks, the Lakers’ veteran never felt the need to participate in it.
When you think about the origins of flashy dunking in the NBA, one name that definitely comes to mind is Julius Erving, a.k.a. Dr. J. The NBA legend spoke to Enjoy Basketball and revealed his perfect starting lineup for a dunk contest.
“Well, I think you’ve got to have Vince Carter in there, gotta have Dr. J in there. You’ve got to have MJ, probably, Michael Jordan, and Dominique Wilkins. And maybe since one of the big guys has to be represented, I might give Dwight Howard a shot; he was pretty creative,” said Erving as he revealed his top five dunkers list.
While the question did not necessitate a response limited only to dunk contest winners, Dr. J must have thought otherwise. Because he skipped LeBron James in his initial response.
However, in a follow-up question, Erving was asked if there was any player currently in the league that he wanted to see in the dunk contest, and James was his immediate answer.
“It’s Bron’s last year, maybe so maybe he should jump in there and give it a try,” Erving added.
The only time James has participated in a dunk was in the 2003 McDonald’s All-American Dunk Contest during high school. The closest James has reportedly come to participating in the NBA dunk contest was back in 2009, when he apparently put his name in the preliminary list of participants but eventually dropped out.
James later addressed it on TNT and claimed he loved dunking in games, but couldn’t think of designing special dunks for a contest. The Lakers veteran apparently even admitted a few years ago that he was angry with himself for never giving it a shot.
According to Vince Carter, there were apparently multiple proposals for a $1 million dunk contest between Carter, James, Kobe Bryant, and even Tracy McGrady.
“I can assure you that the NBA tried. It put on the table a million for names that included mine and those of Kobe, LeBron, and T-Mac. But there was no agreement for all of them to be there. I myself was waiting to see how that would evolve,” Carter reportedly said.
The most recent resurgence of this narrative about LeBron James’ need to participate in a dunk contest came after Victor Wembanyama pledged to save the All-Star weekend after a comical show of errors this season. Stephen A. Smith even ripped into James for being responsible for the people not taking the dunk contest seriously anymore.
Hence, there is a possibility that even at age 41, if the right voices urge James to do it, he may finally take part in the contest. But at this point, if he thinks he’s too old to respond to comments made during the playoffs, then I seriously doubt he would put his body at risk just to cater to what Julius Erving, Stephen A. Smith, and the NBA fans want.
Do you think LeBron James can bring back the NBA Dunk Contest’s prestige by participating in it next season? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
