NBA Dunk Contest: Jaylen Brown Set to Battle it Out With Defending Champion and Rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. on All-Star Weekend

The AT&T Slam Dunk Contest, as the dunk contest is officially known, will take place on February 17th. And it seems like the Boston Celtics‘ very own star guard, Jaylen Brown, is seriously considering taking part this year. The 27-year-old certainly has the caliber to deliver some major dunks, no doubt.

According to Shams Charania, the Slam Dunk Contest’s likely participants will be rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., 2023 Slam Dunk Contest Champion Mac McClung, and Westchester Knicks’ (G League) forward, Jacob Toppin.

JB will be joining a group of no-nonsense dunkers in the league. Jaquez has enough highlight reels to not dismiss him easily. G League player, Jacob Toppin also has pretty neat slams to his name. Brown, for his part, is no less of a threat. He is one of the more athletic leapers in the NBA currently.

McClung, on the other hand, is in a league of his own. He wowed the crowd last year with his otherworldly skills. The 6’2 guard secured 19 out of 20 possible 50s in 2023. They included a 360 windmill and a double pump backwards shot he got from an assistant mid-air!

Although the 25-year-old possibly lacks traditional basketball height, he compensates for it with his stunning vertical. And yet, the star feature of this year’s AT&T Slam Dunk cannot be ignored.

Jaylen Brown is officially a Slam Dunk Contest candidate

The Slam Dunk candidates were announced just an hour ago, and Jaylen Brown has officially become a contender. It is a widely accepted fact that Slam Dunks were the major attractions in past years during the All-Star Games. Nobody wanted to miss the thrilling contest featuring some of the top names in the NBA.

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Kobe Bryant was the last big name who appeared in the Slam Dunk Contest in 1997. There have, of course, been glimpses of star-power time and again, but none as big as Bryant. So, Jaylen Brown’s presence for the AT&T Slam Dunk was quite a welcome change. Former Hawks’ guard, Lou Williams, was speaking on behalf of over 2.2 billion fans around the world when he said, “Thank you Jaylen Brown for being a leader, a frontrunner, and a trailblazer. We need the star power back in the dunk contest.”

There is no doubt that this year’s All-Star Games will be out of this world. The state-of-the-art court and history-making events will make the 2024 All-Star Weekend NBA’s greatest milestone yet. With just 10 days to go, the countdown begins now!

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