[NBA] NBA announces participants for 2026 AT&T Slam Dunk Contest
Source: https://www.nba.com/news/2026-slam-dunk-contest
Participants:
Event will take place Saturday, February 14.
This is pretty dire, man. Pretty dire.
Nothing will be as bad as the 2022 slam dunk contest with the NFT. I honestly think that year coincided with the NBA going downhill as a product
At least Jase Richardson has the DNA to save us from another NFT chain disaster.
Incoming wearing his father’s jersey gimmick!
Joking aside, J-Rich was so fun to watch in his day, both in game and in the contests (look up ‘03, him vs Mase). Uncs like me remember.
He’s on my Mount Rushmore of dunk contest participants
Those J-Rich + Desmond Mason battles were always electric
Hell yeah, he was one of the few bright spots during those dark days.
I’m a huge MSU fan, Jase was the 3rd best dunker on our team last year lmao. I don’t get why he’s here.
“Hold my beer.” -2026, Dunk Competition
This is like the NFL doing flag football for the Pro Bowl. Just pull the plug and put it out of its misery.
At least Mac McClung isn’t here to win a fourth time by default.
This is so much worse. The NFL was trying to build hype and interest for the Olympics at least.
And to think they didn’t even ask me
Never heard of like half these guys
Love me some Carter Bryant, but you’re not wrong. There’s a reason he has a bet with KJ and Wemby to shave his head if he misses 3 more dunks this season.
Star players agents are telling them not to enter the dunk contest. Can’t risk any unnecessary social media damage if they embarrass themselves on national TV
Trust me, I understand. Buzelis competed last year, and it was pretty embarrassing. He missed his dunks pretty bad. At least he went for big hits, but damn, it was rough.
I mean Mac Mclung and any time they started including non NBA players was dire.
It was already but. But Wade being a judge just trying to put Miami players over fucked it even harder.
At this point, just cancel the whole weekend. It is straight up cheeks.
They might as well just bring in the best dunkers from YouTube at this point.
What happened to Jalen Duren wasn’t he invited?
He had a knee injury so I’m guessing he’s sitting it out.
Such a soft mentality. If Kobe accepted an invite to the dunk contest and injured his knee, he wouldn’t sit out. He’d injure the other knee on purpose and break an ankle to prove his toughness, then dunk the basketball twice as hard.
Kobe is so hardcore he doesn’t take no for an answer he does whatever he wants no matter what such a cool guy
You ever seen a black mamba ask for consent before biting someone?
Consent regarding a black mamba historically was an issue
he’d break all the other ppl’s knees to put everyone on equal ground, so alpha
Hell yeah! Kobe was built different. Mamba would force his way in the contest even if he wasn’t invited.
Sounds like Chuck Norris
Then he would go to a hotel and sexually assault a young woman right after
wait so he’s missing the asg also?
He reported knee soreness against Washington Thursday night.
Knee, so he withdrew his name.
What in the polar bear in Arlington is Jase doing there lmao
He’s 100% just gunna do a bunch of nods to his dad, who was a completely different level of athlete/dunker than him.
I watched every single MSU game last year. I think we saw Jase dunk…twice? He has absolutely no business being there
Carter Bryant has a literal running joke between both Spurs players and the Spurs sub about the amount of missed dunks he’s had this season. I wonder how they even thought to invite him
at least he can get up to miss the dunks, jase is a rimgrazer lol
There have been a few clips of him making some pretty gnarly dunks in practice, he’s tall and has bounce. I think he has a pretty decent chance of winning it, dunking in game is different from an open gym-like setting
Fox sent him the invite with a fine print that if he misses one he’s getting his head shaved too
You can’t not invite the guy named after Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant. He just sounds like he would be a great dunker.
We need Coen Carr to make the league.
We need him to shoot more than 24% from the field first
(Sorry I’m extremely mad about these last two weeks of MSU hoops)
His highschool dunk contest shows he has cool dunks.
Probably not an in game dunker due to height
At best our third best dunker last year, even excluding bigs.
He’s pretty athletic and short guys always dude well but wtf is a Keshad Johnson
look up any keshad johnson highlight and its a massive dunk, jase has like a 35 inch max vert lol
Jase has a 38 inch max vertical as measured in the draft combine
Ah ok my mistake, still keshad was measured with a 42 inch vert. Which one do u think is the one that stands out of the group lol
Yeah but he’s like 5’11
mclung is around the same height but has a 43 max vert so imagine mclungs dunks but with 5 inches less of vert
Literally nepotism, it’s just because his dad was a crazy dunker
Is it nepotism when noone wants to do it?
It’s not nepotism. No one is doing the dunk contest
Maybe Jaxson hayes can punch a woman while he dunks
So the NBA decided to try and revive a dying contest format by putting a domestic abuser front and center in the dunk contest
Between the legs while getting tazed.
Let’s invite KPJ and Miles to the dunk contest too
Wild but dark funny
We went from Michael Jordan vs Dominique Wilkins to Carter Bryant vs Jaxson Hayes
The All Star game sucks. The dunk contest sucks. The Pro Bowl sucks. What happened to athletes loving their sports and taking pride in putting on a show?
When you started getting hundreds of millions of dollars involved in contracts.
Money man money
Have Kalshi sponsor it and Giannis would participate
Pro bowl always sucked 😂. It was never good. But the other two, social media and nba contracts ruin. No one wants their star player hurt in an exhibition game
Dunk contest has an issue where it already basically peaked in a way thats pretty hard to ever beat. There’s only so many ways to dunk and given how many highlights are easily viewable with the internet has led to apathy to seeing amazing dunks IMO
Like even if you pull off an incredible dunk there’s almost certainly footage of someone pulling it off even better than you. And since the dunk contest is a judged event vs a objective stat one that you can translate to other past events easily (like the 3 pt contest) you have to rely on people actually caring about showmanship of it. And thats where I think the lack of amazement watching dunks really hurts it
For All-star games I agree with many others in saying the biggest issue is injuries/money. Nobody in sports like football or basketball want to hurt themselves in a meaningless game and potentially cost themselves tons of money/their team a chance at success
Why would you risk your body for a meaningless award when you could be putting it towards making millions of dollars.
Redditors like to act pretentious but all of you would 100% do the same in their shoes
This always gets posted and I really don’t understand, especially coming from fans. These dudes get paid to entertain. How many injuries have we ever even seen in an all-star game or event? Only ones I can think of are Kobe and Parker, which happened during a game where it actually got a little intense. Other than that I can’t think of a single one.
This makes sense in the NFL where so much of their contracts aren’t even guaranteed, but these NBA players lock up hundreds of millions. The least they can do is their job. I think we forget the reason they make so much money is because so many people want to see them.
owners need to put real money on the line and it could be one of THE events of year, until then nope
It’s all about money now. They don’t care.
Dad dunked so good even his son gets invited
Bargain bin LeBron / Bronny
keshad’s definitely a high flyer and he dunks it hard as fk but not sure how dexterous he is. high potential, low floor participant
jase richardson on the other hand….one of the main knocks on him coming out of the draft was his mediocre athleticism. maybe he surprises us?
Out of all the Slam Dunk Contests in history, this will go down as one of them.
I still have my doubts
Fuck Shaedon Sharpe I guess.
Hes injured anyway so
Calf soreness. If that’s the true diagnosis he will be out for less than a week
Its a shame.
There’s no way he wasn’t invited.
He just got injured lol
He got diagnosed with calf soreness
Keshad all day
Am I crazy or do I remember duren saying he was gonna be in it?
Also can Jase dunk well? I’ve never seen Jase dunk more than a basic little throw down
He’s hurt
keshad johnson had some nice dunks in college but man this is such a dire list
Why are people saying “dire”? Did I miss a joke or something
Not a single star player or even a top rookie/sophomore pick in sight. It’s time to replace the dunk contest man.
Replace it with a Dunkin’ Donuts eating contest.
Will Jase inevitably pull his dad’s jersey out before the first or second dunk?
Have him do a 360 dunk and Bronny do a chase down block on him
10 year anniversary of the best dunk contest ever and we’re putting out mid on mid. Won’t even watch it for a second this year
This isn’t even mid lol. Worse than that
Idk I think at least Jaxon Hayes is gonna be good.
He gets negative points for battering women
You don’t know if they’re allowing the mascot trampoline or not. Could really open things up.
Just cancel allstar weekend already man- this is pathetic
Who cares, just don’t watch it like the rest of us.
Maximum of 10min highlights watching on this sub will be enough to have seen a recap of everything good and bad.
You cared enough to respond …. So you
Go on Jase lad
I thought the point of Mac stepping out was to get real pros in without them feeling embarrassed. Guess not.
Everyone’s complaining now but y’all are going to love it when Carter Bryant misses a dunk and gets his head shaved live on national television.
Wack
Fuck Jaxson Hayes
jaxson should be dropped because of what he did to the mascot let alone his girlfriend.
J. Richardson back in the dunk contest
so this must be how charles feels when ernie springs a “who he play for” on him
Y’all don’t understand how good Jase is, the rest are trash. All Star Weekend is already a bust with these wackass celebrity game teams which is all anyone watches anyways
Was hoping VJ would enter
NBA is done. Every aspect has become worse every year
Players don’t care. Teams just out for money
Parity is up, at least. Lots of good teams unlike ten years ago
Keshad Johnson already did a 180 reverse put back dunk in an nba game and he barely gets minutes. I think he will do pretty good
This format sucks like most everything else in all-star weekend. Four contestants in one of the easiest and most highlight-friendly ways to showcase young talent is a joke. I don’t know why they bother (of course I know why they bother since they can sell it to sponsors and advertisers but it’s still a shit product).
did duren drop out?
Knee injury
Make it “horse” at this point.
bruh
What happened to Vince getting the stars back like he vowed to do at the beginning of the season
I think I’d rather watch the Kid Rock halftime show than this garbage.
Is Jase even like that?
They need to cancel the dunk contest
The dunk contest is dead to me. They need to do something creative.
This is bleak
Only four participants? Sheesh
When the biggest name you got is Jaxson Hayes you know it’s a problem
Jase Richardson, don’t let your father down. The most underrated dunker of his time
Carter wanted ja..zion..sharpe…edgecomb and maxey…. lol
Is that Jason Richardson’s son?
Christ almighty, that’s a pretty grim lineup
How are there only 4 participants?! Sad.
Easy skip
Jaxson Hayes being the most recognizable name is some diabolical shit.
The Dunk Contest has fallen farther than I could have ever imagined
yikes…
Man what I was excited to see Jalen Duren
Wait I thought Jalen Duren was participating, what the hell?
Cancel the contest please.
Oof
Who? We needed some Shaedon Sharpe
This is the worst lineup of all time. No question 😂
Fuckin weak
I guess this pretty much solidifies that the 3 point contest > dunk contest.
What a time to be alive.
Make the 3 point contest the main event.
They’re 2K generated draft class names to me
Legit dunno why they don’t cancel this at this point lol
Keshad Johnson is my sleeper pick
Jay Huff snubbed
Yikes!! Jaxon Hayes is definitely going to do a bit with a mascot. Announcers will go crazy for it explaining why it’s funny too.
jaxson hayes gonna do the aaron gordon mascot dunk except he’s just gonna sock him in the face
Had to check to make sure this wasn’t the G League All Star dunk contest
Might need to put a trampoline on the court. This isn’t gonna be great.
Who?
Nba be trolling my man carter bryant smh
NBA All Star Weekend is about to get played in Walmart Aisle 3. Nobody wants to watch this garbage. We want the stars and they don’t want to participate anymore
Not a great lineup, but I’ve heard that Hayes can really punch it.
Yea, ask his ex girlfriend
Just fucking cancel ASG, man
Who???
At least they’re all NBA players unlike Mac McClung.
Well at least Bryant and Hayes are.
Why are there still all star weekends anyway? The fans dont enjoy it, the players dont enjoy it. Just vote the all stars so the players can put it on their resumé but dont do the events
Guessing Duren’s Injury has sidelined him.
Kinda sucks. Was looking forward to seeing what he was gonna do.
Thankfully the g-league guy wasnt asked, it was getting a bit pointless
Castle should’ve came back to win this one after he was robbed of last years award because of McClung the dunk circus-monkey who the nba wheels out every all star break for the dunk contest just to banish him to the shadow realm right after
💤💤💤💤💤💤💤 Not expecting anything from them…
Just cancel it.
Just cancel it cause who tf
Can’t wait to see Giannis post ads for who might win the dunk contest
“”Sure, Dunk Contest,” said George. “All kin’s a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We’d jus’ live there. We’d belong there.””
I understand people not wanting Mac participating since he’s a G-Leaguer, but he’s still a bigger name than anyone on this list
Mac doesn’t want to do it anymore because he still thinks he’s a basketball player and not a professional dunker
Not including him is some grade a bulllllllll.
Who cares if he’s in the g league.
He took himself out of contention, said he didn’t want to do it anymore
poor fella. he deserved better from the league.
I mean Jaxson Hayes has held an NBA rotation spot for a while now, imo he is the most known for playing actual basketball of these guys and Mac
Mac signed with the bulls
A two-way contract is still a G-League contract. Two-way players don’t take an NBA roster spot and those guys can’t play in the playoffs.
I love the two-way system btw, but it’s a big deal for a player moving from two-way contract to standard NBA contract
i thought giannis said last season he was gonna enter and recruit a bunch of other star level players so they can show Mac mclung who the real dunkers are
“Who?”
-Everyone
Jeremy Evans? Fred Jones? Chase Budinger? Tyrus Thomas? James White? Chris Andersen? JR Smith? Ricky Davis? Rudy Fernandez? Darvin Ham? Ben McLemore? Hakim Wallace? Derrick Jones? Will Barton?
Watch it or dont but names like this is nothing new at all but hur dur no stars compete. Just complaining to complain. One of the best was Jason Richardon and he wasnt even ever an all star
I watch for exactly one person: Mac McClung. Where is he?!? He better be injured because I don’t even know these other people.
Bring back the king. Bring him back. Neooowwww.
He retired from the contest
Oh my bad.
He won three times, main feature for two of them and they won’t even give him a guaranteed multi year contract in the league (non-two way). I wouldn’t even do this shit either.
who, bum, who, who (i recognize know him college, but I did not know he was in the nba)
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