Aaron Gordon 'Serious' About Skipping Dunk Contest: 'Going to Shift My Focus'

Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon confirmed Wednesday he's "serious" about not competing in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Weekend in the future.

Gordon appeared on ESPN's First Take and was asked about comments following this year's dunk contest when he said he'd instead like to try the Three-Point Contest or Skills Challenge. He responded:

"Yeah, I was serious about that. And I agree with you, I feel like between Zach [LaVine] and I it was a toss-up [in 2016]. I feel like I got this last one. I don't think I'm going to do it again. We only got to the playoffs one time. We got gentleman's swept. That was the most exciting basketball I've ever played. That was like the ultimate joy for me. That's the focus. To be in the big game and win for Orlando. It takes a lot of energy to do the dunk contest. I'm going to shift my focus."

Gordon reached the finals of this year's competition against Derrick Jones Jr. of the Miami Heat.

He delivered six straight perfect scores of 50 throughout the event before losing in the third tiebreaker round because of apparent confusion between the judges, who wanted to set up a tie:

Gordon created a diss track, "9 OUT OF 10," which was aimed at Heat legend Dwyane Wade, one of the three judges who didn't give him a perfect score on the final dunk.

"People would ask me for it, so I just gave the people what they wanted, just my perspective," he said Tuesday on SportsCenter. "I had to talk a lot about my opinion and my perspective on the dunk contest, so I thought this was a fun, creative, expressive, uplifting way to voice my opinion and tell the world what I was going through and what I was seeing on that day."

The 24-year-old California native also reached the finals in the 2016 event before losing to LaVine in the second tiebreaker round. He was eliminated in the first round of 2017 contest.

Gordon has a legitimate argument that he could be a two-time dunk champion, but it sounds like instead he'll end his career in the event without a title.