Jason Richardson on LeBron James skipping the Dunk Contest: It’s a bit disappointing—back then, if you were a high flyer or a superstar, you did it

Do you think social media has made people harder to impress when it comes to the Dunk Contest — almost like there’s a filter now where nothing feels new or exciting? And is there still a way to save it?” Jason Richardson: Yeah I think social media kind of does that. Because now no longer guys are doing these dunks and you can see people doing these dunks in camps and in the summertime; now you have competition of professional dunkers now and when you see some of these guys and some of things that they can do, it’s amazing and now you have an unrealistic expectation of wanting NBA players doing what those guys are doing and they’re training to do that. And so, in parts it hurts the Slam Dunk Contest in a sense that, Hey. Why isn’t Anthony Edwards in there taking it between his legs, 360 and then doing a tomahawk all at the same time? And people are like, Well… he can’t do that. And others will be like, Well, I saw a professional dunker do that. So I think it’s kind of hard because social media has almost kind of tainted us because we’ve seen so many guys that are doing so many spectacular dunks out there. -via ScoopB.com / June 17, 2025