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Ja Morant told B/R’s Taylor Rooks back in 2021 that he would only consider participating in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest if he was paid $1 million.
So when a fan pleaded with anybody who would listen to pay Morant the money following Saturday’s event, the Memphis Grizzlies star had an interesting response:
Morant’s comments back in 2021 regarding the Dunk Contest—and his reservations about ever participating—still hold weight today. For one, he’s wary of the judging, and that was once again a major point of controversy on Saturday.
Namely, Jaylen Brown was given very high scores for what appeared to be fairly vanilla efforts compared to his competition, ultimately propelling him into the final:
Mac McClung would go on to win the competition for a second straight year.
Inconsistent judging isn’t a new complaint from Dunk Contest fans. Here’s what Morant said about his issues with judging back in 2020, when Derrick Jones Jr. was given the win over Aaron Gordon in another.
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But Morant—who is currently out for the season with a torn labrum in his right shoulder—also noted back in 2021 that players are now able to pull off ridiculous dunks in games themselves, raising the bar on expectations for the Dunk Contest. That means there’s a level of creativity and difficulty expected that is hard to match.
Sometimes those expectations hit, like Mac McClung’s epic performance a year ago. But it’s become increasingly rare.
