by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
Like most people in this world, Shaquille O’Neal wants the NBA’s biggest (and most athletic) stars to take part in the Dunk Contest, an event those stars no longer consider worth their time.
The difference between Shaq and most people is that he has a large platform to voice his opinion. Last night, following the Cavs’ win over the Raptors, O’Neal challenged his teammate LeBron James and also threw down the gauntlet for Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter.
From the Plain Dealer:
“As his manager, I will only allow LeBron to do the dunk contest if Vince Carter comes back out, if Kobe [Bryant] comes back out and if another big name comes back out,” O’Neal said. “And if we can get a big prize and half of the money go to the people of Haiti and the other half to the winner.”
“The guys that are in it, no disrespect to them, but they wouldn’t really be any competition for LeBron,” O’Neal said. On Tuesday, James said he enjoys watching All-Star Saturday night but that he doesn’t feel like taking part. He said he has no regrets for going back on his statement from a year ago. “I’m not a regretful guy,” James said. “I don’t know, I’m just not high on [the contest].”
Naturally, none of this will happen.
Forget the simple fact that both Vince and Kobe are injured — and, let’s be honest, too old to be taking part in any kind of dunking exhibition — but they’ve both already put in their time, and each won a Dunk Contest. And James, well, he’s apparently too cool for school to take part.
The Dunk Contest is dead, and his challenges will do nothing to change that. Shaq should just write a big check for the suffering people of Haiti, and call it a day.
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