LeBron James Should Skip the Dunk Contest

As a spectator at last year's Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, LeBron James told TNT's Cheryl Miller that he would participate in this year's contest in Dallas.

But recently, the Cleveland Cavaliers' forward has stated that there's a 50/50 chance he'll be in the competition next month.

"I don't know if you can get it back to the 80s and like in '98 when Vince (Carter) was in it," James said. It was more about the dunks and less about what was going on around the dunks. We'll see what happens."

James has been slammed with pressure to take part in the event ever since he entered the NBA in 2003. 

He has always been known as one of the league's most exciting dunkers and many fans believe he could easily take home the trophy.

I'm a huge LeBron fan—in fact, he's my favorite player—but I don't think he should even think about participating in the contest. Why?

Because if he doesn't win it or finishes in second place behind a guy like the Lakers' Shannon Brown, a lot of people might say that his name shouldn't be mentioned with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant's.

Jordan won two dunk titles in the 1980s and Bryant took home the trophy in 1997, although he stole that behind-the-legs jam from Isaiah Rider.

Besides, we've pretty much seen every dunk that you could possibly do. We've witnessed guys leaping from the free-throw line and tons of crazy 360s.

And just like LeBron said, it's more about props nowadays than regular dunking. 

Players are now more concerned about making people laugh as they're blowing out candles on a cupcake (Gerald Green) and coming out of phone booths (Dwight Howard).

LeBron should focus more on trying to capture his third All-Star Game MVP instead of taking part in a no longer serious event.