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At this time next week, the very best of the NBA and the D-League will be heading to New Orleans, Louisiana for the NBA All-Star Weekend. While most of the attention will obviously be centered around the NBA, the action of the D-League is able to consistently entertain fans. The All-Star Game itself supplies fans with solid entertainment, but its their Slam Dunk Contest that occasionally shines brighter than its big brother.
Over the past few years, some of the best dunks from All-Star Weekend have come from D-League competitors. Some recent examples include: Tony Mitchell in 2014, Jarvis Threatt in 2015 and the epic matchup between John Jordan and DJ Stephens in the prior year.
To help build up to this year’s competition, we’re going to show you the best dunks from each participant in this year’s NBA D-League Dunk Contest.
Alex Poythress - Fort Wayne Mad Ants
Trahson Burrell - Long Island Nets
Alfonzo McKinnie - Windy City Bulls
Troy Williams - Iowa Energy
John Jordan - Raptors 905
Derek Cooke - Northern Arizona Suns
Compared to prior iterations, this year’s competition will feature more power dunkers than we’ve ever seen. Aside from John Jordan, each competitor in this year’s Dunk Contest stand at 6’6 or taller. While it would be nice to see a more diverse set of competitors, it shouldn’t take away from how entertaining this year’s NBADL Dunk Contest will probably be.