This year’s highly anticipated All-Star Saturday night mostly turned into a disappointment for fans, with the dunk contest and three-point contest failing to live up to the hype.
The biggest part of the annual event, the dunk contest, was especially disappointing. After putting on an absolute show last year, Magic forward Aaron Gordon came up short in this year’s competition, missing several dunks and just looking fatigued as a whole.
The contest started off well — Gordon, looking to do something innovative and fresh, was handed a controller to a fairly decent sized Intel drone. The concept was a good one, but ended up backfiring after Gordon missed the first few attempts. He would be eliminated shortly after, once again failing to land a quality dunk.
Gordon, according to Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated, has already called it quits for next year’s event:
Aaron Gordon tells me he won't compete in 2018 Dunk Contest. "This event takes a lot out of you when you approach it as seriously as I do."
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 19, 2017
Gordon has been dealing with a foot injury for much of the past few weeks, likely playing a role in holding him back on Saturday. In total, Gordon attempted eight dunks, only connecting on one.
What fans would rather remember is his spectacular performance from 2016 against Zach LaVine, in what was one of the greatest dunk contests in NBA history.
Gordon may change his mind over the next 52 weeks, but as it stands, he has no interest in participating in the contest for a third straight time.
