The King of the NBA, and also of the All Stars (the 2025 one will be number 21 for him) has never wanted to participate in the slam dunk contest.
For years, the poster for the slam dunk contest has left a lot to be desired, certainly for the general public. Especially if you draw on nostalgia and remember that it was an event that used to bring together the main and most spectacular stars of the NBA. And that Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter… all won it in their day.
One of the first big stars who, with a style that seemed perfect to light up the competition, decided not to participate was LeBron James. A physically gifted player who over the years has made a historic collection of huge dunks during the games, has never been in the competition. And that despite the fact that he is the record man for the All Stars: he has accumulated more participations than anyone else (21), all in a row, as a starter and without missing any of them due to injury between 2005, his second season in the NBA, and 2025, the event in San Francisco that he will not miss.
LeBron turned 40 on December 30. He still dunks, some of them tremendous, in games, but it’s obvious that the time has passed when he could have been a top-notch participant in the competition, both in terms of skills and media appeal. If he had been there, other stars might not have turned down the opportunity to participate as well, but that’s pure speculation.
There have been several occasions when LeBron has spoken about his absence from the slam dunk contest, an unwavering stance that only came close to changing in 2010, when the forward put his name on a preliminary list of participants. Afterwards, he explained on Inside The NBA (the classic TNT show) his reasons for not participating: “What I like is dunking in games, at the height of the game. It’s hard for me to think about designing the dunk, going to the contest…” In 2015, he said something similar to Dwyane Wade, his former teammate on the Cavaliers: “It’s never been my cup of tea… I’m all about dunking in games”. He did admit that a few years ago it could have been different and that he was “angry” with himself for never having participated: “It would have been great”.
LeBron has also said in the past that he didn’t often consider participating because he didn’t want to do it just any old way: “If I had gone, it would have been to win. If not, it would have been a waste of Saturday night.” Curiously, he did win the McDonald’s All-American Dunk Contest in 2003, in his senior year of high school.
One of the most striking narratives about this permanent avoidance of the LeBron and other stars’ dunk contest was told by Vince Carter (winner in 2000). According to the guard, there was an attempt by the League to relaunch the event in a big way. What was proposed was a prize of one million dollars for a contest in which he, LeBron, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady would have to participate. There were some negotiations that were close to fruition, but almost at the last minute the four stars withdrew and left a project that never came to fruition. This is how Carter recounted it: “I can assure you that the NBA tried. It put on the table a million for names that included mine and those of Kobe, LeBron and T-Mac. But there was no agreement for all of them to be there. I myself was waiting to see how that would evolve.” Of the four, LeBron is the one who has never participated. There was also another million-dollar attempt, or so the story goes. Magic Johnson, in 2013, went so far as to say that he would put a million out of his own pocket for LeBron… or for whoever beat him in a dunk contest that also never took that form.
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