The 2020 NBA Slam Dunk contest turned out to be a memorable one for both the right and wrong reasons. First, the contestants put on a dazzling display of dunks, which was a treat to the eye. On the other hand, the finale made controversy when Derrick Jones Jr. won the title, leaving Aaron Gordon behind. Dwyane Wade, who was a part of the judging panel, took the blame for not awarding the points righteously.
Many felt the judges robbed Gordon of the title after he made an amazing final dunk. He leaped over 7-foot-5 Tacko Fall to slam the ball into the basket. It was an incredible effort to jump over a man who stands at a mighty height of seven feet.
As Jones Jr. got 48 in his previous effort, Gordon needed 49 or a perfect 50 to claim the honors. He chose to jump over Fall, which seemed impossible. But he made it happen, and the crowd along with the commentators went wild.
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Anticipating a victory after making the dunk over the miraculously tall Tacko Fall, Gordon was left fuming after he received only two tens. Dwyane Wade and two of the other judges gave him a 9, which left him one short of his opponent’s tally of 48. This became Gordon’s second time losing out on the winner’s title after he finished runner-up in 2016.
Gordon confronted Dwyane Wade on Instagram live
Aaron Gordon and Dwyane Wade joined hands on an Instagram video chat recently. The pair had to clear out the air after Gordon released a diss track targeting Wade for his nonsensical points scoring.
The 24-year-old praised Wade as a legend but made his thoughts clear. “There’s only a couple of people who thought D-Jones should have won though.. You and D-Jones,” he said. Subsequently, Wade tried to get into the reason behind the judging of his final dunk.
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He stated how Gordon did not completely clear Tacko Fall, which prevents judges from awarding a perfect ten to the contestants. The former Miami Heat star was also open to admit about his capacity with dunking the ball. “It is always hard to judge someone when you can’t do what they can do.”
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Wade claimed he went by the rules, but he felt that both contestants were equally matched. Gordon received 297 of the 300 possible points and yet failed to claim victory. Wade praised Gordon for his impeccable abilities and felt he was unlucky to end up as the second-best on multiple occasions. The thought of Gordon’s past performances were in D-Wade’s mind as he was judging the 2020 contest. “When you’re judging you have a little bit of bias even to that,” he said.
The pair had a good chat on the platform, which led Gordon to gain the information of why his dunk was not given the perfect score despite achieving the “impossible” as quoted by Wade. The Orlando Magic star informed that the 2020 stage would be his last time taking part in a dunk contest.