dominique wilkins
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NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins.
Standing aside the TD Garden court Wednesday night, Dominique Wilkins seems caught between wistful and angry as he discusses what has become of the NBA’s slam dunk contest.
The Atlanta Hawks legend is a two-time winner and five-time participant on the All-Star weekend event, not to mention a Hall of Famer, nine-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA and member of the league’s 75th Anniversary Team. So, yeah, his feelings on the contest’s lack of star power in these later years carries weight.
“It’s hard for me, because, you know, all the best athletes got in the dunk contest when we were doing it,” Wilkins told Heavy on Celtics. “The stars got in the contest.
“But it wasn’t about us; it was about the fans,” he said, pointing his right index finger on a tour of Garden’s upper reaches. “We were trying to give the fans what they come to see. And to see the lack of interest from star players — or, I should say, from star athletes — that have the ability to play the game above the rim and don’t get in (to the event), it’s… it’s disappointing.
“It can’t always be about your brand, and that’s what it is — instead of being about the people. We did it for the people.”
‘They Were the People the Fans Wanted to See & They Put on a Show’
Nique doesn’t name the current people be feels should be doing it for the fans at the Saturday extravaganza in Inglewood, California, a couple weeks hence, but he’ll willingly use the past to illuminate the present.
“I mean, you look at one dunk contest, it was me, Michael Jordan, Larry Nance, Dr. J (Julius Erving), Darrell Griffith, Clyde Drexler, I could go on and on,” Wilkins said, listing names from the 1985 event that also included Terence Stansbury (find his highlights, kids) and Orlando Woolridge.”
Wilkins added, “You know, guys that I have a lot of respect for are (Zach) LaVine and Aaron Gordon, guys that brought the slam dunk contest back.” LaVine won it in 2015 and ’16, while Gordon competed in ’16, ’17 and ’20.
“They were stars — popular guys — and they took pride in it,” he said. “They were people the fans wanted to see, and they put on a show and elevated the contest. Then the next thing you know, it goes back down to just kind of a mediocre contest.
“The fact that a G-League guy can beat you guys three times in a row should tell you something.”
‘He & I Just Wanted to Know Who the Best Was’
Wilkins, often a judge for the dunk contest, certainly respects the ability of Mac McClung, a 6-foot-2 NBA part-timer. But even McClung, now lighting it up for the Windy City Bulls after getting in three games with the big league Pacers in October and November, is saying he won’t go for a fourth straight title.
More to Wilkins’ point, the NBA’s brightest stars who won’t compete generally cite the desire to relax and enjoy the Saturday events. More quietly, it is said potential dunkers don’t want to risk looking bad.
That’s a far cry from 1988 when Wilkins had the temerity to challenge Jordan in the old Chicago Stadium in a field of seven. He knew going in he was dunking upstream against the local hero.
“You know something about that? He and I just wanted to know who the best was,” Nique told Heavy.
Jordan captured the $12,500 prize (the winner now gets $100,000… hey, inflation), but the venue may have had a little something to do with the outcome, according to the victor.
“Many times Michael has said to me, ‘You know, Nique, you know you won, but you were in Chicago. What can I tell you?’ That’s his town,” Wilkins said with a shrug, his svelte 6-8 frame now leaning against the scorer’s table. “But it was an unspoken thing with us. We didn’t have to say who won. It was just our competition, our rest for one another all those years. And at the same time, it’s still the greatest dunk contest ever. That’s why we’re still talking about it 38 years later.”
Nique laughed and added, “Of course I beat him. I’d be lyin’ if I said something different. But this is the thing I always tell people: no matter who won, the fans got their money’s worth, period. No matter who won. When I look back, it don’t matter who won or who lost; people still talk about how great that contest was. The two parties involved laid it all out on the line. I’m cool with that. My dunks were fly.”
And now Dominique Wilkins would simply like to see a few more stars in the Saturday sky.