The 2022 Dunk Contest Was a Missed 2 Hand Slam
I've played basketball for about 7 years and dunking for about 2 and a half. Watching people who were really experienced trying to attempt these insane dunks had a profound impact on me. I was inspired to want to learn how to do these stunts. 2016 was probably the best year for any basketball fan to tune in to dunking in and out of the NBA. We had Jordan Kilganon who was undoubtably the best dunker outside of the NBA making signature dunks of his named “The Scorpion”. He’s a professional dunker who has gained a following from many social media outlets such YouTube and Instagram. I would try his dunks out at my own hoop or at the gym while also attempting to recreate some dunks the NBA players would do at the NBA contest. I also became so obsessed with wanting to learn how the dunks were rated and performed that I would watch people judge the dunk contest on YouTube or even live on television. So, I know how the dunks attempted at the dunk contest work and how difficult some of the dunks are.
Honestly as a person who loves watching and doing dunks, the contests this year at the 2022 dunk contest was probably the worst contest to ever be performed in the history of the NBA. Compared to the 2016 dunk contest with Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon where they had some innovative and spectacular dunks that kept me and the fans on our toes. This years dunk contest made me fall asleep on my couch. The dunks were repetitive with very little thought to making it special compared to other years. Probably the most "fun". This years dunk contest had more missed dunks than made ones . Jalen Green and Cole Anthony were the most hyped for this dunk contest and they produced a mere 7-25 (28%) made dunks in the first round with no perfect dunks which further contributes to why I disliked this dunk contest so much.
There are many examples of why the dunk contest was so bad. The players often took multiple tries just to make their shots. Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets received some mockery, particularly after he waled on the court wearing and NFT only to miss on what it seems to be an endless amount of drives to the rim.
Many stars such as Dwayne Wade, Shaq, Stephen A. Smith and Reggie Miller couldn’t help but voice their opinions on how bad the dunk contest was. D wade said, "This dunk contest right here… was a solid 6."
The NBA All-Star Game, which included the Dunk Contest at halftime, averaged a combined 3.1 rating and 5.94 million viewers across TNT and TBS — down 24% in ratings and 18% in viewership from last year (4.1, 7.28M) and the lowest\ rated and least-watched edition of the game. According to Kunai Sethi from Sports Skeeda
There are many ways the dunk contest could be fixed and many ways to make the people happy and view the contest more. It would be to bring in people outside the NBA such as professional dunkers which would lead to more competitive dunks. Another way is to introduce brackets where the players would go one on one where the crowd would be more into it. Bringing back the shot clock would be good because It which wouldn’t bore the audience by the dunkers taking forever to get their dunk in. The last way I could think of is the dunkers playing HORSE which would make the audience be really into it by letting the dunkers try each other dunks.
However, many people would say that they wouldn’t want the dunk contest changed at all. They claim that if the dunk contest is changed then the original feeling or nostalgia of the contest would diminish. That point of view is very understandable but most of the original dunks have been preformed time and time again. That makes the contest unbearable so change is definitely needed.