Anfernee Simons of the Trail Blazers, Cassius Stanley of the Pacers, and Obi Toppin of the Knicks will compete for the annual Slam Dunk title at halftime of the All-Star game on Sunday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, the NBA announced in a press release.
Simons, a 6’3” guard, is averaging 8.2 PPG in his third NBA season. Stanley is a 6’5″ rookie guard on a two-way contract after being selected in the second round last fall. He recorded a maximum vertical leap of 44 inches in the 2020 draft combine. Toppin, a 6’9″ rookie forward and lottery pick, is averaging 4.6 PPG in 25 games off the bench.
The 3-Point Contest, which will be held prior to the game, has a lot more star power. Suns guard Devin Booker and Warriors guard Stephen Curry, former winners of the long-ball contest, head the list of participants. The Celtics’ Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, the Bulls’ Zach LaVine and the Jazz‘s Donovan Mitchell round out the six-man field.
The Skills Challenge, which will also be held prior to the game, also has plenty of All-Star firepower. Mavericks guard Luka Doncic and Suns guard Chris Paul head that six-man list. Knicks forward Julius Randle, Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis, Magic center Nikola Vucevic and Trail Blazers forward Robert Covington round out the field.
Gonna be lame with only 3 in the dunk contest
Why are you doing a dunk contest with dudes that barely play? At this point just get YouTube dunkers.
Lame
We demand Zion vs LeBron dunk contest, MJ vs Nique’ style!
No one cares what the fans want.
When I actually watched the dunk contest, it was too casual and forgiving. IDK now. Two dunks of 25 pts each?— but how many can they delete?
They should have to run obstacles but employ a landing mat to get the respect back… integrate it into the flourishing skills comp… ?
I’ve never heard of Cassius Stanley to be honest.
Stanley’s greatest achievement so far. Gets a participation award and get to sit court side for the all star game
The big stars are too afraid of losing this contest to enter it.
Or the teams say you can’t participate.
Yeah they should have at least 6 players. Commissioner should have stepped in and made teams put up players. 6 is not a huge number.