"He did it on purpose" - Stephen A. Smith pins NBA Slam Dunk Contest's debacle on LeBron James, citing his pre-game dunk antics
After the NBA Slam Dunk contest was again a disappointment, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith claims that it was due to LA Lakers star LeBron James. Many of the league's fans think that, among the various reasons that the slam dunk contest has been a letdown for many years now, is the lack of star participation.
Jaylen Brown's participation marked the first time a player who had been selected to the All-Star team joined. Prior to him, Victor Oladipo was the last star who took part in the contest in 2018.
For a while now, the dunk contest participants have been young role players. Even back-to-back champion Mac McClung has played more career games in the G-league than on an actual NBA roster. All-Star caliber players seem to be avoiding the dunk contest, and according to Stephen A., it's all because of LeBron.
"LeBron James is directly responsible for ruining the Slam Dunk contest," Smith said on First Take.
His co-hosts started to give various reactions, but he stopped everyone from talking to continue his tirade against the 39-year-old star. Stephen A. proceeded to list a few of LeBron's accolades and said that what he's done will be appreciated and that he will be missed.
After, he reminded everyone that the NBA Slam Dunk contest was won by a future Hall of Famer five times from 1985-1997. Those players were Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins, who won twice, and Kobe Bryant, who won once.
Stephen A. continued that, at some point, spectacular in-game dunkers all wanted to take part in the dunk contest until LeBron said he wasn't doing it.
"And you know what [LeBron] did to rub it in? He'd do it on the lay-up lines before games," the analyst later added, referring to LeBron's pre-game warm-up dunks. "You went to the games, and you had people with their cameras clicking and going crazy because they saw LeBron James using a lay-up line pre-game as his own slam dunk performance, and he did it on purpose."
Stephen A. then continued his rant by stating once more that the demise of the slam dunk contest was due to LeBron's refusal to participate.
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LeBron James explained why he doesn't participate in the dunk contest
During the 2015 NBA All-Star weekend, Dwyane Wade played the role of interviewer and got the chance to talk with LeBron James. One of the questions that Wade asked was why he had never participated in the yearly dunk competition.
LeBron answered that it just wasn't his "flavor." He shared that he did do it a few times in high school, but before he could get to his point, Wade interrupted and tried to summarize the reason by half-stating and half-asking that LeBron is an in-game dunker.
LeBron James agreed, but then he said that he sometimes felt some regret at not joining the slam dunk contest while watching it, but that he's no longer interested in participating.