The uncrowned king of dunks
Aaron Gordon is arguably the best contest dunker to ever play in the NBA. You would think that would mean that he would have won multiple All Star weekend dunk contests. You would be wrong. After being robbed for the second time in a competitive event, Gordon remains title-less in the contest that he has controlled the narrative of for half a decade.
I know what you’re probably thinking, “Why does it matter that Aaron Gordon has never been given the chance to lift up a trophy and shake the hand of an executive from some faceless corporation that encourages obesity? Who cares? It’s just a contest.” Thing is, the All-Star weekend dunk contest is more than a contest.
The battles Michael Jordan had with Dominique Wilkins helped create the narrative that Jordan was the greatest player of all time. Spud Webb’s success in the competition, redefined the limitations of shorter players. However, the most important dunk contest was Vince Carter’s victory in 2000.
Many people believe that Carter’s victory saved the NBA in Canada. The next season, the Grizzlies would leave Vancouver and head to Memphis, but with Vince’s popularity and the attention he garnered through this contest, the Raptors were able to build a fan base that would eventually witness the Larry O’Brien Trophy raised nearly 20 years later.
His victory did more than save a franchise. In Europe, their was a burgeoning professional dunk contest circuit. The dunks that he used became standard bearers for professional dunkers. People started asking, what’s actually possible in a dunk contest? Now a global sport, professional dunking’s growth can be linked to this moment. Sadly, the All Star weekend dunk contest has been broken for a number of years.
A few of the competitions have had, what appeared to be, predetermined victors. They rarely select decent judges. The combination has discouraged potential champs from bothering to enter. Case in point, Demar DeRozan.
Demar is the last NBA player whose dunks have influenced professional dunkers instead of being dunks influenced by pro dunkers. In particular, his Show Stopper dunk is considered an important dunk in pro dunk contests. However, he didn’t even make the finals. Instead, an incredibly mediocre dunk from Blake Griffin pushed Demar out of the finals. Demar did an East Bay variation (which is still done in pro dunk contests) and introduced the world to his Show Stopper dunk. That would be Demar’s last dunk in All Star weekend dunk contests. Blake’s first round was paltry in comparison. So why did he reach the finals and eventually win?
This is all speculation, however, numerous fans and NBA players believe it to be the case. You can decide whether this is all a coincidence, or, if the dunk contest was rigged yourself. The dunk contest that year was sponsored by KIA Motors. At the time, KIA’s North American spokesperson was Blake Griffin. His final dunk to win the contest was him dunking over a new KIA convertible.
Actually, he didn’t dunk over the width of the KIA. That’s difficult. Cars don’t have give. That’s why it’s a big deal in contests when people jump over convertibles. Instead, he sort of jumped over a door, caught the ball and placed his feet on the seats of the car after his dunk.
That debacle hasn’t stopped teams from trying to win the contest. One year the Knicks signed James White, a player who had recently left his professional team in Europe. His only accolade in Europe, at the time, was winning dunk contests. Having an athlete win the dunk contest can galvanize fan bases around a player even when a team lacks success. The Knicks understood that.
That leads us to Aaron Gordon. He should have been judged the winner of his first contest at the 2016 NBA All Star weekend in Toronto. However, no one should complain about Zach Lavine winning. The two put on a show that is unquestionably the greatest dunk contest in All Star weekend history. Their battle should have been a sign to NBA execs that serious dunkers were returning to the contest. They should have taken the judging of the contest more seriously. Instead, they did nothing. His next attempt to win a dunk title he tried to use a drone — let’s pretend that didn’t happen. That leads us to this year.
You could argue that the 2020 All Star weekend dunk contest had it’s most competitive field since the 1990’s. This was displayed by every competitor, except 30+ year old Dwight Howard scoring at least one perfect, 50 point dunk.
In the finals, both Aaron and eventual winner, Derrick Jones Jr. scored perfect scores early. However, for their final dunks neither did. Both were brilliant dunks but one was clearly the superior. Aaron Gordon dunked over 7 foot, 6 inch tall Tacko Fall.
Let’s put that into perspective. The high jump world record is just over 8 feet. It has remained the world record since 1993. Last year, the top high jump of the season was 7 feet 9 inches. A 7 foot 6 inch leap would have been a top 20 leap in professional track and field last year. Those guys contort their bodies to jump over their hurdle. Aaron Gordon ran straight at Fall, with a ball in his hand and bounded.
Who cares that he didn’t cleanly get over Tacko? Fall was in dress shoes with raised heels. They never practiced the dunk. The only people in the world who could pull off his feat are Aaron Gordon and maybe a very small group of the most elite 3 or 4 professional dunkers in the world.
Of course after the contest, every NBA pundit had an opinion. Kendrick Perkins suggested that only dunk champs should be allowed to judge the contest. Kenny Smith argued that it should have ended in a tie. Meanwhile, Shaq explained the pressure from TV producers he received when he judged the 2016 contest.
Ideally, the NBA should use professional dunk contest judging criteria. Have people who judge dunks on a regular basis instead of media personalities. Allow judges to use decimal points when judging dunks. That would clear a lot of the controversy up.
Additionally, a tie is okay! Why can’t there be a tie in a dunk contest?
The NBA All Star weekend dunk contest is a bizarre event. It’s billed as the main event of All Star Saturday night, but it hasn’t always been treated as such. Contests have appeared rigged to please sponsors. Judging panels usually have few, if any, people who could ever dunk in their lifetime. Meanwhile, teams understand the potential cultural impact that having a winner can have. Some teams going as far as hiring players for their dunking acumen. However, the league at large, and their TV partners see it strictly as a ratings gimmick.
Aaron Gordon’s loss is not just his loss. It’s a loss for us fans. It’s a loss to the Orlando Magic who could use a jolt to their cultural identity. They are likely to make the playoffs for the second season in a row, have an exciting young roster, but Forbes values the franchise as the fourth worst in the NBA.
Despite his proclamation that he will never enter another contest, we still have Gordon’s dunk highlights. Highlights from the greatest dunker in NBA All Star weekend history.
