LeBron James Missing this year’s dunk contest

By A.j. Reed
Western Herald

Last year, LeBron James made a promise to compete in the 2010 Slam Dunk competition during the final round of the 2009 competition between Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson. This promise immediately put the 2010 Slam Dunk contest on the list of must-see sporting events for 2010.

With the promise of LeBron in the dunk contest, it brought the possibility of other superstars to also enter. Rumors started flying around of the possibility of LeBron, Kobe Bryant, and Vince Carter all being entered in the 2010 contest, a dream line-up for anybody who is a fan of the competition.

As with any promise however, there is always the possibility that it may be broken.

When this year’s lineup came out, there was one major omission – LeBron James. This year we get to see returning champion Nate Robinson, along with Eric Gordon, Gerald Wallace, DeMar DeRozan, and Shannon Brown.

LeBron had stated during the current season that he had changed his mind to 50-50, eventually siding to not enter the contest all together. Even Dwight Howard has decided not to enter this year’s competition. He has been quoted by Tim Povtak of FanHouse as saying, “I’ve thought about it [staying in], but no, I think it’s time for other guys to go out and show what they can do. I’m getting too old for it. I’ve done it.”

This excuse could work for LeBron, except for the fact that he has never been in the Slam-Dunk contest before. At least Kobe and Vince can say that they’ve been in it at least once.

LeBron needs to stop worrying about what would happen to his image if he were to enter the contest and end up not winning. His choice to back out feels more like a blemish on his resume than a loss in the contest would.

Just because Dwight Howard lost to Nate Robinson last year doesn’t make it feel like he is any less of an explosive dunker than he already is. Give the fans what they want Lebron and prove that you are the best when it comes to being the most explosive, powerful, and jaw-dropping player in the league.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Jan 24 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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