Vince Carter excelled at many different things during his time in the NBA, but his specialty was dunking the ball. Whether he was putting his opponents on posters in games or winning Slam Dunk Contests, Carter's dunks were the stuff of legends.
While Vince only participated in the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, where he put together arguably the greatest performance of all time, he recently revealed that he nearly took part in another contest that would have featured a star-studded cast.
Legendary Dunk Contest that never happened
While the Slam Dunk Contest has certainly fallen off quite a bit in recent years, it was one of the best events of the season during Carter's time in the league. As a result, the NBA wanted to take advantage of its popularity and up the ante.
Vince shared that he was asked to participate in a contest featuring LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and more, with a prize of $1 million. While "V.C. "shared that he was all for participating in the contest, it never came to fruition.
"The NBA, I don't remember what year it was, but LeBron, Kobe, (Tracy McGrady), and I, they were trying to get us all together and up the ante to about $1 million at the time, which would really be great now to see it," Vince said on Taylor Rooks X . "I was like, 'If everybody else is up for it, let's do it.' It didn't happen. I don't think we were close."
"It was a thing, it was talked about like, 'Oh, shoot.' It wasn't even about the money. And I'm missing a couple of other guys who I feel like they were asked. But I was like, 'Yeah, this would be fun.' And you have different styles, but it was a chance for us to show our abilities…I had a couple dunks that I didn't in dunk contests that I was like, 'Oh, I can go back and try this and this and this,' if it were to come about. But it didn't, but it would have been awesome," Carter added.
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Fans would have surely loved to see this
The biggest gripe fans have with the dunk contest nowadays is the lack of star power. Jaylen Brown decided to take part in the contest in 2024, but even then, his performance ended up drawing tons of criticism on social media for being subpar.
Star power would not have been an issue in this event. Had it taken place, it would have undoubtedly been the greatest dunk contest of all time.
Unfortunately, that didn't end up happening for whatever reason. According to Carter, it sounds like it was really just an idea that started getting thrown around without any sort of plan to implement it. So, while he was all for it, it never really got off the ground.
It's a shame it didn't because it surely would have been a great event. Maybe the NBA can use this story as inspiration for getting the dunk contest back to its old glory, though, because it could certainly use the infusion of star power that this event was slated to have.
Related: "I'm winning. I don't know how, but I'm winning" – Vince Carter says he's beating Michael Jordan in a slam dunk contest
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