What is a king to a god?
What’s the dunk contest to LeBron James?
For all of James’ accolades, championships, records, MVPs, he has one noticeable omission from his resume.
No, not the elusive Defensive Player of the Year award, albeit that too.
However, that can at least be argued, see 2013.
Marc Gasol may beg to differ, but it can be disputed.
Rather, the hole in James’ resume that is of his own accord, is that he has never participated in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
Forget winning the thing.
He has never even taken part in the All-Star weekend’s historical grand event.
James’ contemporaries such as the late great Kobe Bryant, and the man who he battles for the title of ‘greatest ever’ with, Michael Jordan, have both participated in the dunk contest.
And both have won it.
Jordan twice.
So why has James never once participated in the event over the course of his 22-year career?
It’s not like he doesn’t know how to play above the rim.
He’s carved out an entire Hall Of Fame career in doing so.
He came into the league in 2003, heralded as not only a generational talent, but as an athletic phenom, the likes of which have rarely been seen.
James has a career’s worth of posters and gravity-defying dunks, which has always left fans begging him to partake in the dunk contest.
At 40 years old, that ship has long set sail.
And according to the man himself, it may have never left the dock in the first place.
James never viewed winning the dunk contest as a goal of his.
In 2023, James told Bally Sports (now known as FanDuel Sports Network) why he never chose to participate in the event.
“I don’t think it was something I wanted to accomplish in my career,” James said.
“It’s not a goal of mine and it never was coming into the NBA to be a part of the Dunk Contest, you know?
“Making the NBA All-Star Team was, being the league MVP, winning Defensive Player of the Year, winning NBA Championships.
“Those were some goals of mine.
“The NBA dunk contest was never a goal of mine so, it wasn’t something that I had too much passion for.”
James’ reasoning even goes further back to when former teammate, Dwayne Wade, asked him why’s never entered the dunk contest.
“It’s just never been something of my flavor,” James said.
“I’m an in-game dunker.”
While the dunk contest requires more creativity and flare, there’s no doubt James wouldn’t have come up with something that left everyone’s jaws on the floor.
The 21x All-Star did note that he has been ‘mad at himself’ in the past for not participating in certain years, because he believes ‘it would have been great.’
James has also been on record, stating: “If I decided to do it then I would have to win. Otherwise, it would be a waste of my Saturday night.”
He said that more than a decade ago.
James has had more than 20 chances, and has passed every time.
At any point if he said he wanted to do the dunk contest, the NBA would have rolled out the red carpet for his highness.
But it’s clear, as James has stated, he has simply just never been interested in it.
It’s not a stain on his resume, but rather a big question of ‘what if?’
What if James participated in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest?
Unfortunately, we’ll never know.
