Nba Slam Dunk Contest Predictions

[Mirtha Hinrichs]

Theshowcase weekend of the NBA season celebrating the league's 75th anniversary is headlined by All-Star Saturday night's contests, including the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, MTN DEW 3-Point Contest and AT&T Slam Dunk Contest and the marquee game which will see Team LeBron vs Team Durant.

Where they lack in experience, they make up for in skill and this is the Skills challenge, after all. The fact that Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham and Josh Giddey are all gifted passers leads me to believe they'll cruise through that part of the challenge. And how about the fact that 20-year-old Barnes is the oldest of the three? They're going to have endless energy to make the most of these timed competitions.

Name a scarier 3-point contest threat than a 41.3 percent 3-point shooter with a chip on his shoulder? Bane's got the swagger and confidence of a dude that's ready to become a household name at All-Star Weekend. He'll have the Rising Stars game on Friday to warm up, too.

VanVleet is making 4.0 3-pointers per game this season, putting him behind only Stephen Curry (4.7) for most in the league. Not only that, but he's connected on almost half of his catch-and-shoot attempts from deep and leads the league in clutch 3s made. All of this is to say that he's an elite standstill 3-point shooter who lives for the big moments. He's got this in the bag.

He's the shortest of the participants at 6-foot-3, but three of the past five dunk contests have been won by guards and when you combine his 40-inch vertical with his New York swagger, this is his event.

Apparently Green plans to incorporate NBA Top Shot, which is the league's blockchain NFT highlight collectibles, into his contest showing. Part of me doesn't even know what that means but, hey, it's 2022 and I think Green's groundbreaking creativity will set him apart from the rest of the dunkers in the field.

Nobody understands legacy like LeBron James who can seize the opportunity to shift focus away from a turbulent season with the Lakers. In front of the game's biggest names both past and present AND back in Cleveland, LeBron can stake a claim that in Year 19, this is still HIS league.

All-Star Saturday is back, baby! The skills competition is pure silliness (I love it), the three-point contest has been the marquee event for years, and the dunk contest is only one viral moment away from returning to glory.

But there have been rumors that Sims is the most athletic player in the NBA since he entered the league last year; grainy practice footage of him putting his chin on the rim lends some credence to that belief.

Sims is the kind of guy who makes you reconsider your relationship with gravity. Here, he freezes at the peak of his jump for ages, waiting for the ball to reach him, before thunderously throwing it down:

I\u2019m an unapologetic All-Star Saturday fan. I miss the Shooting Stars competition (the legend of Team Bosh!), and I think many of the recent dunk contests have been at least decent and at best classic (Derrick Jones Jr. vs. Aaron Gordon, anyone?). So understand that I may have some fish-colored glasses on as I preview these events.

The Antetokounmpos are hampered by only having one real NBA player on their team. As skilled as Giannis is, there\u2019s a lot of shooting in the competition, which doesn\u2019t play to his strengths.

Team Jazz is the wildcard. Walker Kessler is a defensive-minded big man in an offensive-oriented event\u2026 but something tells me that Kessler, Clarkson, and Sexton are going to put forth a bit more effort than their peers. Buoyed by the raucous Salt Lake City faithful, look for Team Jazz to pull through.

People underestimate how different a shooting contest is from in-game shooting. Bending over to pick up the ball throws some players off their rhythm, and the short clock hassles players with a slow release. On the other hand, the extra-deep balls (formerly Mountain Dew balls, but there is a new sponsor now) give an advantage to players used to shooting from 35 feet, like Damian Lillard. So on-court production doesn\u2019t always match three-point shootout success.

Julius Randle is a late replacement for the Blazers\u2019 Anfernee Simons, depriving us of a chance to see Simons go head-to-head with his teammate Lillard. So why was Randle, shooting a below-average percentage from deep, the replacement? Nobody knows! He\u2019s in the All-Star game, so perhaps he was the only player the NBA could find at the last minute. Regardless, I expect a strong showing from Julius, just to spit in the face of oddsmakers everywhere. But I can\u2019t pick him to win.

The betting frontrunner is Buddy Hield, for good reason. He\u2019s one of the best shooters in NBA history and won this contest in 2020. His quick release and ability to fire from any angle give him a natural advantage in this contest\u2026but picking the favorite is boring, so I\u2019m not going to do that.

A seasoned vet, Lillard should be a strong contestant. He\u2019s played before, although not since 2019, so he should know what to expect. In addition, he\u2019s got the deepest range of anyone in the field, which could help with the bonus shot. But he hasn\u2019t performed exceptionally well in his previous two stints, and it\u2019s easy to imagine him losing some motivation with his teammate a late scratch from the event.

Jayson Tatum is a solid three-point shooter, but that\u2019s not his specialty. He\u2019s now the third-favorite to win the event, however, due to the insane number of Celtics fans betting on Tatum. Unfortunately, this does not reflect how likely he is to win.

Lauri Markkanen is an underrated contender. He\u2019s been lights out all year, he\u2019s playing in front of his adoring hometown fans, and Karl-Anthony Towns proved just last year that big men can win this thing. I think he\u2019ll be a finalist, but I worry about his pace being a bit too slow.

One of the least-accurate marksmen in the field? Perhaps, but Tyler Herro overflows with confidence, and the Heat have a long history of three-point champions (tied with the Celtics for most in NBA history). Herro seems like a guy who thinks winning the three-point contest is making a statement, and he\u2019ll be laser-focused. He\u2019s my pick.

There\u2019s no way around it: the news that Shaedon Sharpe has pulled out is devastating. Already one of the greatest in-game dunkers I\u2019ve ever seen, the rookie\u2019s exit put a damper on public enthusiasm for this year\u2019s event.

But we actually have a pretty loaded class! Expectations are low for the dunk contest, and there\u2019s no question there\u2019s a lack of star power. But that doesn\u2019t mean the dunks will be bad; far from it! These guys don\u2019t have to worry about reputation and can go all out.

I was rooting for Trey Murphy III to be the rare dual dunk and three-point contestant (his nickname is literally Trey!), but alas. Regardless, Murphy possesses an uncanny ability to fly without much load-up. One second, he\u2019s standing completely upright, and the next, his shoes are next to your head. His insane length makes windmills and tomahawks look even more impressive.

Jericho Sims is a bouncy big man from New York with even longer arms than Murphy. An awe-inspiring 64% of his shots are slams; that\u2019s first in the league. Of course, it\u2019s always tough to judge rim-running centers on their creativity because they rarely have the in-game opportunity to take more than one dribble, so Sims is a bit of a wildcard.

If we\u2019ve learned anything from dunk contests in the past, though, it\u2019s that jumping high doesn\u2019t matter nearly as much as the effort and prep a player puts into it. And for that reason, I\u2019m picking Mac McClung.

The days of stars doing the dunk contest may be long gone, but that may be to the benefit of the dunks themselves. We have a talented quartet of high-flyers ready to make waves this year, and I\u2019m expecting a sneaky-great dunk contest.

Mac McClung may not be on an NBA roster, but his skills have demanded a chance to defend his crown. We break down the odds and give our best Slam Dunk Contest bets for All-Star Saturday night's marquee.

Still, he does have a history of being an impressive dunker at the lower levels. He beat KJ Martin in a dunk contest in high school and flashed some serious hops and creativity in the process. If he still has that level to his game, he could surprise some people.

McClung is seeking to become the first repeat winner since Zach LaVine in 2016. Overall, perimeter players have captured nine of the past 10 Dunk Contest titles, a figure that will hold with no big men participating in this year's contest.

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