15 NBA players we wish competed in the Slam Dunk Contest

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is on life support. The G-League’s Mac McClung has won the contest for a second year in a row. Despite Boston’s Jaylen Brown attempting to bring stars back to the iconic event, his dunks were relatively unimpressive.

Now, New Orleans Pelicans center and well-known dunker Zion Williamson has mentioned he will participate in the dunk contest if he also makes an All-Star Game.

“If I’m in the All-Star Game, I’ll do the dunk contest,” he said. “But if I’m not, I’m not doing it.”

It got us thinking: who are some of the All-Stars we wish we got to see in the dunk contest? Some of the league’s best athletes have never taken a shot at participating in the All-Star Weekend staple. Here is a shortlist of all the would-be first-timers we would love to see throw it down with style.

Ja Morant is one of the most pure all-around dunkers in the league. Power, explosiveness, dexterity, hops…there is no reason (outside of bodily preservation) that Morant isn’t a perennial dunk contest participant.

There are few people who can bring the thunder at the rim the way Anthony Edwards can. Not sure how many style points Ant could add in the dunk contest, but he should get points for the sheer force of his dunks.

Giannis Antentokounmpo isn’t going to break out props and fancy moves. His dunk contest routine should be a Youtuber-esqe challenge run that finds out how many people he can dunk over at once. (Hint: it’s a lot.)

The Washed King can still throw down reverse two-hand alley-oops at 39 years old. It is criminal that we never saw LeBron James do a dunk contest in his prime, but him doing one now would be a nice consolation prize.

Bam Adebayo is an absolute monster at the rim and has thrown down huge dunks on some of basketball’s biggest stages. Getting a man with both bounce and power would make for an all-time dunk contest outing.

Victor Wembanyama finishes strong at the hoop despite his slender frame. He would be a competitive participant just on size alone. Also, remember when Dwight Howard dunked on that 12-foot rim? We need – nay, deserve – to see how high Wemby could go.

De’Aaron Fox is another smaller guard with great explosion. If he can dunk on one of this generation’s best rim defenders in Rudy Gobert, he absolutely deserves to be in a dunk contest.

Russell Westbrook campaigned for a dunk contest entry as early as 2009, but he never got the chance. We missed out on one of the best all-around basketball players of his era to participate in the game. Who knows what we possibly missed out on.

As the inspiration for this article, it would be disrespectful not to put Zion Williamson on this list. His high school dunk tapes put him on the map. He brought that same energy to Duke. Even in his injury-addled NBA career, the big man’s still got it. This is a seasoned dunking veteran who deserves to show his skills off on the big stage.

Wilt Chamberlain used to dunk his foul shots. He is solely responsible for the invention of the free throw shot. Yeah, he would’ve won a dunk contest in any era.

Time for the historical division! Patrick Ewing was the original power dunker, willing to run through guys and jam it home. He would have given us a Dwight Howard-esqe performance way before Howard’s time.

Before his career was shortened by injury, Chris Weber was one of the most prolific dunkers the league had to offer. A man willing to run around-the-world dunks on Charles Barley’s head during a game would have crushed the dunk contest.

The inventor of the Dream Shake was no stranger to throwing it down at the rim. Getting Hakeem Olajuwon into the dunk contest is a no-brainer, considering how creative he was when scoring at the rim.

There’s nothing better than seeing a little guy dunk. It’s a real “journey over destination” kind of phenomenon. The explosiveness and extra effort it takes to get to the basket makes the overall product that much better. AI could get up there as well as anybody in the league. If he wasn’t afraid to attack Shaquille O’Neal at the rim, he could easily dunk over just about anyone.

Magic Johnson was seldom a dunker, but he was also one of the most creative minds in the sport of basketball. If we want to bring back originality and creativity to the dunk contest, Magic is your man.