The All-Star dunk contest has lost its star power in recent years. That could change this month. The Celtics’ Jaylen Brown is strongly considering accepting an invitation to participate, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (Twitter link). Charania said Brown has been “mulling over the possibility for several weeks.”
We have more from around the basketball world:
- A star-laden cast is lining up for the All-Star weekend’s 3-point contest. Tyrese Haliburton, Damian Lillard, Malik Beasley, Jalen Brunson and Lauri Markkanen have agreed to participate, Charania tweets. The same goes for Tyrese Maxey, Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and TNT tweets. Donovan Mitchell has also added his name to the list, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
- The entire All-Star Saturday night lineup will be played on a full video LED court that will be installed at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. The skills competition, 3-point contest, slam dunk competition and shooting matchup between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu will take place on the glass floor on Feb. 17. The All-Star Game on Feb. 18 will remain on a wooden court.
- Former NBA player Nemanja Bjelica was allegedly threatened to be stabbed with scissors, Eurohoops.net relays. Nikola Petkovic, a former soccer player, confronted Bjelica in a children’s playroom in Belgrade, according to multiple Serbian outlets, and threatened Bjelica and his famly. Petkovic was arrested and detained for 48 hours. Bjelica, a member of the Warriors’ 2022 championship team, hasn’t played this season.
NBA Jam ’24. Players will probably hate that floor, but I love it.
The glass floor is modern rubbish for people attracted by lights and with a 5-second attention span. Hopefully somebody gets injured and they ditch the thing forever.
I thought it sounds dangerous also but I don’t wish injury on anyone. It died seem silly and unnecessary for people who actually like basketball.
I’m betting they’re testing it in the skills competitions to see if it works. If it does, I’ll further bet it’s a precursor to selling advertising that changes during the game, much like they do on the walls surrounding a soccer field.
Just another gimmick like the in-season tournament because the level of play and competition on the floor have declined that badly.
Agreed, the NBA All Star Weekend used to be awesome to watch.
The fact that no true all star has done the dunk contest since 2018 is the reason it has slowly declined.
It takes a smooth brain to assume that all those lights will be flashing while players are actually trying to perform.
JB & 2x1st picks for Mikal Bridges
How is Grayson Allen and his 49% on 3s not in the 3 point contest?
Lillard is in this year shooting 35%, and no one confirmed is shooting north of 45%
Facts
My comment was deleted lol
20 years ago this was the best part of the regular season…
Now it’s like a weird 3/4 of the way through filler weekend…
The floor sounds like a marketing knobs wet dream… “We can run full adverts on the side of the court the players aren’t using” type crap…
Hoping it’s useful for the action at least…