The 2019 NBA slam dunk contest was…….what’s the correct word…….uneventful. No new dunks were showcased, and some of the more exciting moments came from missed dunks! This year overall every national slam dunk contest was boring as the NCAA and High School All-American contests were not so entertaining either. Fans have been complaining to either change the format of the dunk contest or scrap the dunk contest altogether and replace it with a new event.
The good news is that the 2020 NBA All Star slam dunk contest is already shaping up to be one not to miss. Now, lets get something out of the way: Lebron is not going to be competing. Even though some dunk contest fans are calling for him to still compete at his age, trust us, he won’t be nor ever be. Certain players have already been talking a lot about competing, and if it all works out in the end, these will be the competitors:
Zach Lavine 
Aaron Gordon 
Giannis 
Zion 
Donovan Mitchell 
Hamidou Diallo 
Lavine and Gordon have been going back and forth on social media about competing. If both end up participating, it would be the long-awaited sequel to one of the best dunk contests in NBA All Star Weekend history. Interestingly enough, their first dunk off was compared to the Dominique Wilkins-Michael Jordan dunk off of 1988, and the rematch (if everyone ends up joining) will be in Chicago, the same city of the 1988 dunk contest.
Giannis asked his fans on social media if he should join the contest, and his fans replied with a resounding yes. Now, although Giannis seems more of a game dunker than a contest dunker, he has surprised everyone with what he can do since he was drafted, so a great performance wouldn’t surprise us.
Which brings us to the main event: Zion. Zion hasn’t actually stated that he will be dunking in next year’s dunk contest, but fans around the world are waiting for the moment he does. Since he hasn’t actually been drafted yet, it might before a while before he does. Zion is already considered one of the best dunkers of all time without even dunking a ball in an NBA game yet. A win as a rookie in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest would put him in the company of Vince and MJ. The consensus seems to be that Zion would obliterate anyone he competes against, even if the competition is Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon.
Donovan Mitchell has also said that if Lavine and Gordon do enter the contest, that he would also be interested as well. That would add another previous winner to the mix. Hamidou Daillo has also said that he wants to defend his dunk championship in 2020. Considering that the 2020 line-up would be significantly better than the 2019 group, Daillo will have to bring a lot of new tricks with him to win. In addition, we would still like to see Mario Hezonja compete as he has stated that he would destroy anyone in the world in a dunk contest. He said this a few years ago, and still hasn’t backed that up. Maybe 2020 will be the year.
So, NBA, please don’t scrap the dunk contest just yet, we want to see Zion perform in just one NBA dunk contest.
Picasso Baby 