Shaquille O’Neal shares harsh truth about lack of stars at NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Shaquille O’Neal sees a couple of major problems with the NBA’s slumping dunk contest these days.

Too many non-stars. And too many missed dunks. 

“In the last 15 years, we haven’t had a real top guy like LeBron [James], Zion Williamson, participate in a dunk contest,” O’Neal said on Boardroom Cover Stories. “And then you’ve got guys missing three or four dunks.”

The NBA’s annual dunk contest, which takes place over All-Star Weekend and is now officially branded as AT&T Slam Dunk, has grown flat and stagnant following its history of stars either competing against each other (think Michael Jordan versus Dominique Wilkins) or being born in the dunk contest itself (think Dee Brown).

It’s also featured some iconic moments, including Vince Carter’s reverse 360 windmill dunk in 2000, Dwight Howard’s Superman slam in 2008 and Blake Griffin’s jam over a car in 2011.

But in the modern era of basketball, the dunk contest has been steadily declining and criticized for the lack of stars participating in it. 

Consider that some of the winners over the last 15 years have included Keshad Johnson (2026), Mac McClung (the three previous seasons), Hamidou Diallo (2019), Glenn Robinson III (2017) and Jeremy Evans (2012). Not exactly big names.

The winner of O’Neal’s DUNKMAN will receive $500,000, the largest prize in professional dunk history. O’Neal said on the podcast that the money could increase during the competition, depending on how well the talent does.

“If you look online, there are kids who are not good enough to be in the NBA, but they’re unbelievable dunkers, and they’ve got a lot of views [on social media],” O’Neal said. “They get a lot of eyes on them. I was like, maybe we need to put a league together and compensate these guys.”

O’Neal added that DUNKMAN will be a diversified event, as it will feature athletes from England, China, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Ukraine and the United States.

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