In what was scripted to be Aaron Gordon’s shot at redemption from last year’s close loss to Zach Lavine, Glenn Robinson III stole the show.
Robinson III displayed his staggering vertical during a dunk in which he jumped over two people, the catch being that one was on the other’s shoulders. This earned him a perfect 50/50 from a panel of approving NBA legends featuring Gary Payton, David Robinson, Dominique Wilkins, Alonzo Mourning, and Chris Webber. After a 360 “dab” dunk, he sealed the deal by jumping over Paul George, a cheerleader, and the Indiana Pacers mascot, all while grabbing the ball out of George’s hand midair.
Robinson’s competition simply could not compete. Aaron Gordon attempted a dunk contest first when he tried to catch a ball out of a drone flying over the basket, however it took him half a dozen attempts to finally finish, which hurt his score. Perhaps even more strange was Deandre Jordan’s dunk over rapper DJ Khaled, who naturally live streamed the dunk to his Snapchat Story. The high flying D-League phenom Derrick Jones Jr made a name for himself with a few acrobatic dunks including a between the legs off an alley oop catch.
Truthfully, this dunk contest didn’t reach the bar that last year’s Lavine-Gordon contest set so high. Lavine didn’t participate due to a torn ACL, and Gordon was nursing a foot injury at the time which may have limited his acrobatics. Credit to Glenn Robinson III for his outstanding dunks and his victory, joining the ranks of NBA Legends who have hoisted the award through the years.