The 2020 Slam Dunk contest was about as controversial as it can get. After a hard-fought battle between Aaron Gordon and Derrick Jones Jr., it was Jones who walked away with the win.
But, by all accounts, Gordon should have taken home the prize. In fact, by the judges’ own testimony, the scores were supposed to end in a tie, but something (or someone) messed it up.
As one of the judges who scored that day, Scottie Pippen recently detailed the truth behind what really happened that day.
"We punched the scores in and they came up wrong … We thought we were going to give them both a tie."
—Scottie Pippen on scoring Aaron Gordon and Derrick Jones Jr.'s dunks pic.twitter.com/Cr1UVLeHNL
— ESPN (@espn) February 28, 2020
Dwyane Wade was originally accused of rigging the scores in favor of his former Miami Heat teammate Jones Jr. And while we can probably let Wade off the hook for that one, it’s still unfortunate that a mistake is what determined the winner of the contest.
Gordon has already made it known that he won’t be competing again — so we don’t have to worry about robbing him of another trophy. But, going forward, the league should exercise more caution regarding the scores of the contest. If they really did “come up wrong,” then it’s almost as if there’s no winner at all.
Regardless, it’s in the past and Gordon has other matters to consider as the season draws to a close.
