{"id":99148,"date":"2024-10-04T11:00:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T15:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=99148"},"modified":"2024-10-04T11:00:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T15:00:41","slug":"3-nba-rookies-who-could-participate-in-this-years-dunk-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/04\/3-nba-rookies-who-could-participate-in-this-years-dunk-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"3 NBA Rookies who Could Participate in This Year\u2019s Dunk Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA Dunk Contest is a young man\u2019s game. You have to go all the way back to Nate Robinson<\/a> in 2010<\/a>, to find a dunk contest winner who was even 26 years or older. Additionally, with the exception of Jaylen Brown<\/a> last year, it is also a game\u2014or event\u2014\u2018star\u2019 players increasingly decline to take part in. Since 2020, only two players with All-Star selections attached to their resumes have even participated in the event\u00a0Jaylen Brown<\/a> and Dwight Howard<\/a>, and Howard was long past his All-Star days. As a result, young players and lesser-known role players are often the ones headlining the NBA Dunk Contest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing as the NBA Dunk Contest is rarely headlined by the game\u2019s biggest names, it\u2019s often a showcase for young up-and-coming players to establish themselves to a wider audience. Mac McClung<\/a> may be a fringe NBA player, but he\u2019s become somewhat of a household name thanks to his jump-out-of-your-seat slams in back-to-back contests. If McClung\u2019s high school throwdowns didn’t catch your attention, his dunks during All-Star weekend surely did. Below is a list of three NBA rookies who could potentially give McClung a run for his money, if he does ultimately decide to defend his dunk contest crown and go for a three-peat.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

3 NBA Rookies who Could Participate in This Year\u2019s Dunk Contest<\/b><\/h2>\n

Reed Sheppard<\/b><\/h3>\n

Along with being a young man\u2019s game, the NBA Dunk Contest<\/a> is also oftentimes a little man\u2019s game. Now of course the term \u2018little man\u2019 is relative, especially when talking about NBA players. But there’s no denying that smaller-sized players have dominated the competition for many years. From Nate Robinson<\/a> to Donovan Mitchell<\/a>, Anfernee Simons<\/a>, and Mac McClung<\/a>, there’s just something about players of shorter stature gliding through the air with both agility and power that is appealing to audiences. <\/span>Reed Sheppard<\/a>\u2014who stands at 6-foot-3 could be the next undersized player to dazzle audiences at All-Star weekend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sheppard\u2014known much more for his shooting prowess than his dunking ability\u2014may not seem like an obvious dunk contest candidate. However, when you consider his 2024 combine<\/a>-best 42-inch vertical leap<\/a>, the narrative begins to change. Throw in a bit of creativity, and the Rockets’ guard could likely put on quite a show. Sheppard isn’t likely to posterize a ton of people this season, but that’s more about his style of play than his athletic capabilities. Sheppard is more of a dark horse candidate, but if given the opportunity, he could surprise a lot of people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ron Holland<\/b><\/h3>\n

Take a quick look at <\/span>Ron Holland<\/a>\u2019s highlights<\/a>, and it’s easy to see him tearing it up on the dunk contest stage. Holland attacks the rim with a tenacity and ferocity that few others can replicate. <\/span>With Holland\u2019s freakish athleticism, it\u2019s no wonder that draft analysts have long drawn comparisons to similarly gifted players like Cam Whitmore<\/a> and Russell Westbrook<\/a>. Holland feels like the most obvious candidate from the rookie class to be a 2024-2025 NBA Dunk Contest participant. With prototypical wing size and leaping ability, NBA fans will likely be clamoring to see Holland\u2019s athleticism on full display by the time All-Star weekend rolls around.<\/p>\n

Holland is clearly one of the more unpolished players incoming 2024 lottery picks. He still lacks the necessary refinement and restraint to fully succeed at the NBA level. But don’t be surprised if, within the first month or two of the season, Holland has already submitted his application for \u2018dunk of the year\u2019 with some ridiculous posterizing jam.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Matas Buzelis<\/b><\/h3>\n

Ron Holland\u2019s former G-League Ignite teammate, Matas Buzelis<\/a>, could also be in line for a season full of highlight-worthy dunks and displays of athleticism. <\/span>Buzelis\u2019 performance during Summer League alone, suggests that he is already building a case for inclusion in this year\u2019s contest. Buzelis\u2019 athleticism in combination with his lengthy build, allows him to do some tantalizing things<\/a>\u00a0on the court. Just ask Buzelis\u2019 teammate, Ayo Dosunmu<\/a>, who recently made comments<\/a>\u00a0implying that Buzelis might be the best athlete on the Bulls\u2019 roster\u2014a roster that includes two-time dunk contest champion Zach LaVine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Much like Ron Holland, Buzelis also has a long way to go in terms of being an impactful real-life NBA player. Throughout Summer League, Buzelis routinely struggled with poor shot selection and inefficiency. Additionally, Buzelis is really going to need to bulk up his 6-foot-10, 209-pound frame if he is going to withstand the physicality of a full 82-game season. With that being said, Buzelis could still make massive waves representing the 2024-2025 rookie class during the dunk contest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NBA Dunk Contest is a young man\u2019s game. You have to go all the way back to Nate Robinson in 2010, to find a dunk contest winner who was even 26 years or older. Additionally, with the exception of Jaylen Brown last year, it is also a game\u2014or event\u2014\u2018star\u2019 players increasingly decline to take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5268,"featured_media":99394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,1166,8,10,31,62,556,1248],"tags":[1559,3967,4794,900,205,450,2480,49148,40909,49134,49172,53,457],"class_list":["post-99148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-best-moments","category-bulls","category-pistons","category-rockets","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-nba-season-previews","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-ayo-dosunmu","tag-cam-whitmore","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-dwight-howard","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-mac-mcclung","tag-matas-buzelis","tag-nate-robinson","tag-reed-sheppard","tag-ron-holland","tag-russell-westbrook","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}