{"id":574720,"date":"2026-02-01T08:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/574720\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T08:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:17:14","slug":"lakers-lebron-james-makes-decision-on-competing-in-nba-dunk-contest-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/574720\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers&#8217; LeBron James makes decision on competing in NBA Dunk contest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers\/news\/lakers-lebron-james-makes-decision-competing-nba-dunk-contest\/8be57c500a1fafa8b1cbde17?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=appeared_on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Lakers&#039; LeBron James makes decision on competing in NBA Dunk contest;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Lakers&#8217; LeBron James makes decision on competing in NBA Dunk contest<\/a> originally appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=appeared_on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:The Sporting News;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Preferred Source by clicking here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>NBA All-Star weekend is right around the corner, which should excite diehard NBA fans who look forward to the yearly event.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The Slam Dunk contest hasn\u2019t been exciting in recent years, but there\u2019s still hope that with the right participants, it could eventually get back on track.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Los Angeles Lakers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> star LeBron James is among the players that fans have wanted to see in the contest for years. Although the 41-year-old has yet to compete, it didn\u2019t stop ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin from asking James if he would be interested in joining this year\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n<p>James\u2019 response made his <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mcten\/status\/2017436052370198866\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:stance on the subject;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">stance on the subject<\/a> crystal clear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Expletive), no chance,&#8221; James stated in a no-nonsense-like tone.<\/p>\n<p>McMenamin\u2019s question was likely driven by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ohnohedidnt24\/status\/2017425839835496719\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:JJ Redick\u2019s comments;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">JJ Redick\u2019s comments<\/a> about James\u2019 athleticism following the Lakers\u2019 142-111 victory over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/washington-wizards\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Washington Wizards;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Washington Wizards<\/a> on Friday night.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe early rumors are that the league is going to try to get him to the dunk contest this year,&#8221; Redick said. &#8220;There\u2019s some choice left in those legs, apparently. The great left bionic leg.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s true that James can still elevate for awe-inspiring dunks at age 41, it\u2019s unlikely he would come close to winning the Slam Dunk contest at this stage of his career. James is aware of this, which is why it isn\u2019t shocking that he made it known he&#8217;ll be sitting out for the 23rd straight year.<\/p>\n<p>James\u2019 wise decision is yet another example of his high IQ and awareness.<\/p>\n<p>More NBA:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers\/news\/luka-doncic-makes-statement-trade-thatll-excite-lakers-fans-enrage-mavericks-fans\/fffad860ab0fbccd5d250b8f\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Luka Doncic makes statement on trade that&#039;ll excite Lakers fans, frustrate Mavericks fans;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Luka Doncic makes statement on trade that&#8217;ll excite Lakers fans, frustrate Mavericks fans<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers&#8217; LeBron James makes decision on competing in NBA Dunk contest originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,8095,1661,185,150,6,9672,468],"class_list":["post-574720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-dave-mcmenamin","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-slam-dunk-contest","tag-washington-wizards"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115994391460256219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}