NBA Slam Dunk Contest 2018: Participants, Format, TV Schedule and Predictions
After a wild first half of the season, the NBA has reached its All-Star break, which will be highlighted by Team LeBron vs. Team Stephen in Sunday's All-Star Game.
The top precursor to the main event is always Saturday's Slam Dunk Contest, which has featured some of the NBA's best highlights over the years, most notably the infamous Michael Jordan vs. Dominique Wilkins duels in the late 1980s.
This year's contest has the potential to be exciting from start to finish. Here's a look at the list of participants, the format, the television schedule and predictions.
Participants
Indiana Pacers shooting guard Victor Oladipo, Dallas Mavericks point guard Dennis Smith Jr., Utah Jazz shooting guard Donovan Mitchell and Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Larry Nance Jr. will be taking part in this year's contest.
This is Oladipo's second go-around after he finished as the runner-up to then-Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine in 2015. This will be the first appearance for rookies Smith and Mitchell as well as three-year pro Nance.
Format
All four players will get two dunks (and three attempts to complete each) in the first round. Judges will score each dunk on a scale of 6 to 10, so the lowest possible dunk score is a 30 and the highest is a 50.
The players with the highest combined scores for both dunks move on to the finals. The same dunking rules are repeated for this round, with the winner being the player with the best finals score (a player's first-round score has no bearing on the final result).
TV Schedule
There is no set time for the NBA Slam Dunk Contest as of yet: All-Star Saturday Night will begin at 8 p.m. ET and lead off with the skills challenge and three-point contest. The dunk contest will close the evening's festivities.
TNT will televise all of the events.
Predictions
The NBA Slam Dunk Contest seems like it's either a big hit or a big miss every year with no in-between. The crowd is either juiced the entire time as players make great dunk after great dunk or the arena turns into a library as missed attempts become the norm.
Expect this contest to fall in the former category. Mitchell and Smith awe crowds with their amazing power despite their shorter stature (both are 6'2"). As noted before, Oladipo has been here before and fared well before losing to the near-invincible LaVine in the finals. And Nance is a big with tremendous hang time and length, both of which he can use to his advantage.
All four players have been featured in numerous dunk highlights this year thanks to their power and hang time, and they will expect their good fortune to continue on Saturday.
As for the winner, look for Nance to edge Oladipo in the finals. Ultimately, this prediction isn't a knock on any of the contestants, all of whom are more than capable of winning the trophy. However, Nance (and Oladipo) have two edges over the field.
For the 6'10" Nance, he has tremendous leaping ability in addition to length the shorter guards can't match. For Oladipo, he's been here before and done well, so that could help him in his second go-around.
The Nance pick is based off the fact his in-game dunks have been spectacular. He plucked the ball from the rafters for this dunk against the San Antonio Spurs:
And he put former Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez on a poster with this 2016 slam:
It's hard to bet against a player who can pull off those feats, so the prediction is for Nance to take the crown just as his father did in 1984.
