The NBA All-Star weekend once again proved to be a dud in 2025, and Carmelo Anthony feels changes are needed in the future to save it. On his 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony podcast, Anthony admitted that the weekend has lost its luster and suggested some solutions to address the issues.
"Slam Dunk contest used to be the s***," Anthony said. "To me, we gotta get back to ... you can only be in the dunk contest if you're an All-Star because that's part of the All-Star weekend festivities... The All-Stars should be participating in the three-point contest and the dunk contest. Even the skills challenge, you have to be an All-Star to be able to participate in those events.
"If we don't get back to that, we might well just cancel the dunk contest,” Anthony continued. "We shouldn't be bringing people who is not part of All-Star weekend to play in f***ing slam dunk contests and shoot threes... Shoutout to Mac McClung, but he’s holding it down. But he's not supposed to be holding it down for us."
Mac McClung has won the last three Slam Dunk contests with some incredible performances. McClung has spent much of his career in the G League, though, and Anthony wants to see the big names on the stage now. When asked if the teams might not want their players to participate, Anthony dismissed that notion.
"The teams ain't got nothing to do with it," Anthony stated. " It's the players that's like, 'Man, I'm chilling. It's All-Star weekend. I ain't going out there dunking. I'm chilling.' ... You're not going to get hurt going out there in the dunk contest. For me, now that I'm on NBC and we have the All-Star weekend, I want to see the [Ja Morant's], I want to see the [Anthony] Edwards, he has to do it."
Zion Williamson was another name that came up with Ja Morant and Anthony Edwards. Anthony stated he is going to do what he can to get these three to participate in the contest. It would be must-watch television if they were going to battle it out.
Morant might be willing to participate after being inspired by McClung's heroics, while Williamson has suggested at various points that he could take part in the future. Edwards, though, has no interest. He was asked during a Q&A session on Threads in July if he'd ever take part in the Dunk Contest and had a simple two-word response.
"Hell nawl," Edwards replied.
Edwards has previously explained why he won't participate. He believes he is just an in-game dunker and doesn't have the tricks for the contest. That's a fair response, too, but Anthony would still like to see him take part.
Anthony also believes that the lack of interest today's young stars have in the contest is because some big names that came before them didn't want to participate. He thinks that has trickled down to the youngsters and is disappointed by the current state of affairs.
Will Anthony be able to change things? Well, time will tell. Los Angeles is hosting the 2026 All-Star weekend, and he wants the stars to be the ones on the stage.
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