EAST LANSING – Coen Carr is widely recognized as one of the best dunkers on the planet.
A shot at staking a claim to that title will go first to the Michigan State forward’s former roommate he built Legos with last season.
Former Spartan standout and Orlando Magic rookie guard Jase Richardson was announced last week [as one of four participants in the 2026 NBA Slam Dunk Contest](https://www.mlive.com/spartans/2026/02/ex-msu-standout-picked-for-nba-dunk-slam-dunk-contest-his-dad-won-twice.html). Count Carr among those who didn’t see that coming.
“He was surprised, we all were surprised,” Carr said after practice on Wednesday. “I feel like if he was trying to get in the dunk contest I would have already known if he was trying to really get into it.”
Richardson was a surprise one-and-done at Michigan State before being selected by the Magic with the 25th pick in last year’s draft. His initial response to being chosen for the dunk contest was to write “I guess” with laughing and shrugging emojis on social media.
“A lot of people don’t think I’m going to try because of what I tweeted, what I said,” Richardson told reporters recently with a laugh, “but I’m not going to do something I’m not going to compete in. I’m always going to try to go win something, I don’t know if it’s going to happen but I’m still going to try to compete. I feel like I’ve got some stuff but we’ll see. Hopefully I can get one down.”
Richardson will become the second in his family to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest after his dad, former Michigan State All-American Jason Richardson, won in both 2002 and 2003 while a member of the Warriors. The younger of the two is only 6-foot-1 and is by far the shortest of the four contestants who will be part of the two-round event on Saturday during All-Star weekend in Los Angeles.
“We talked about it but we didn’t really talk about the dunks or whatever he’s going to do,” Carr said. “He has his dad so I think he’ll be OK.”
There’s arguably nobody in college basketball whose highlight reel of dunks can match Carr, who remains nonchalant about the acrobatics he displays with a 51-inch vertical leap. His shot at competing in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest may come at some point but for now he’s confident in his former roommate.
“He’s got some 360s, he’s got some windmills, he’s got some stuff,” Carr said of Richardson. “He’s just a scorer so he don’t really show it too much, he doesn’t really play too much above the rim in the game but I’ve seen some stuff in practice and open gym and just playing around when we were in the gym at night last year.”