Over the past decade or so, the NBA’s dunk contest became uncool to NBA players. The top-tier high-risers haven’t gotten anywhere near the contest lately because they feel as if it lessens them somehow. Almost as if it’s beneath them. In fact, that last one to boast big names was 2000, during Vince Carter’s magical performance. But that may change this time around. OKC’s Russell Westbrook has expressed interest in participating. This contest was made for athletes like Westbrook.
Russell Westbrook on Thursday expressed his interest in someday joining the field but said he wasn’t sure if he will participate in Houston this year. ‘It’s up in the air,’ Westbrook said about this year’s dunk competition. ‘I would (like to) before it’s too late. But I don’t know where I’m going to feel like doing it or not.’ Westbrook, as he has in the past, insisted that he is more of a ‘game dunker’ rather than a dunk contest dunker.
Typically, that means a player impresses more with power and by posterizing opposing players as opposed to planning out dunks weeks, if not months, in advance. ‘It’s so many people in this league that jump so much higher than I do, everybody else can do it,’ said Westbrook, clearly being modest. ‘It’s a lot of people that can jump. I only can jump high in the games. That’s it. I think if it’s just regular people would be disappointed.’ Westbrook, however, said he does have a few tricks up his sleeve. ‘I got a few dunks, but it ain’t nothing that you ain’t seen before,’ he said. ‘These dunk contests you’ve got to dunk on three baskets, do cartwheels and do something to get points. But I don’t know, man.’
H/T: News OK
