No, Vince Carter is not going to participate in the 2017 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
“But, I read on the internet that VC was making a Dunk Contest comeback”. Well, you were fooled. Just like everyone else.
A video recently made the rounds featuring a clip of Vince Carter saying he would consider joining the 2017 NBA Slam dunk Contest and it was complete with another clip of Vince dunking during training camp. It was an ideal dream for those who enjoy Vince and want to see him go up against the new crop of dunkers, most notably Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon.
But looking deeper at the actual video of Vince speaking, it was a clip uploaded a few months after the original question was asked. Vinsanity spoke to someone back in February before the All-Star break about the dunk contest and if he’d be interested in joining. The original clip doesn’t look as good as the edited version.
With this video circulating the internet, of course, it got back to Vince himself. But it appears that Vince is particularly upset about this incorrect rumor. He just wants to know, why didn’t anyone ask him? (Clicks, Vince. They all want clicks.)
Following from Lang Whitaker of NBA.com.
“I heard about that video way after the fact,” Carter says, sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden recently. “All of a sudden people were like, ‘You’re in the dunk contest?’ I was like, ‘Where is this coming from?’ Whatever clown that reported it, it’s like, just call the source first. Just ask me! Come to any training camp and ask me.”
“In the video, I never said I was going to be in the 2017 Dunk Contest. That interview was from last year, and the guy had asked me about P3 Training Camp, where they had the vertical leap photo of me and [Andrew] Wiggins.”
“Also, look at that video: I had on a sweater in the summer? Everybody analyzes everything about a video, picture, whatever. Why don’t they do the same with this? I had a sweater on at training camp?”
Can Vince even still perform any of the dunks he threw down in the 2000 Dunk Contest?
“I could probably do one, and I’d probably need a day before I’d do another. I could do some stuff, but not enough to win a dunk contest. With what these guys are doing now? Yeah, right.”
“I’m just like, this is frustrating. I’ve never even talked about it. I didn’t even say that I would win it. I didn’t even say that I would compete in it. And why would I want to mess with the memory of that magical night back in 2000?”
