“Takes a Lot of Energy”: Aaron Gordon Still Salty Over the Loss of NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Aaron Gordon and NBA Slam Dunk Contest have become a controversial tail altogether. When he lost the contest owing to Dwyane Wade’s controversial 9/10 score, the whole social media exploded dubbing him the winner instead of the actual winner, Derrick Jones Jr.  While the whole controversy was done and settled, Gordon released a diss track mocking Wade. The track attracted a lot of attention and even Wade noticed the track. Wade was very subtle himself in replying to Gordon, advising him to trademark 9/10 and earn millions out of it. Touché.

After the loss, Gordon wasn’t too happy with what happened and simply said he’s not going to do it again. Even after months of the incident, he stands by the same. Speaking recently on the same, Gordon said,  “I don’t think I’m gonna do it again, just because I’ve only been to the playoffs one time. We got gentleman swept, and that was the most exciting basketball that I’ve ever played,”

“That was the ultimate joy for me. So like, that’s the focus, you know what I mean, to be in the big game and then to win for Orlando. It takes a lot of energy to do the dunk contest … so yeah, I’m gonna shift my focus.”

Dwyane Wade Tries to Make it Up to Aaron Gordon

After the controversial take, Wade took steps to try and remedy it. He tried to call Gordon on his IG live to talk about the incident, but that never went through. Later he went on to explain the reason for his rating during a fan live Q&A. Addressing a question from a fan, Wade said, “Because I felt it deserved a 9.
A 9 is not a bad thing. I think it deserved a 9 because he didn’t clear him. People are still talking about this dunk contest months later. As judges, we made it interesting.”

2020 was Gordon’s second loss in the Slam Dunk contest. He earlier lost in 2016 to Zach Lavine, which was also a close call regardless. Regardless of the loss, Gordon’s dunks have been incredible and him planning to never participate again is a definite loss to the contest.