The bass thumped, the lights dimmed and Hollywood did what Hollywood does best: It oversold the moment.
At the brand-new Intuit Dome on Saturday night, the NBA Slam Dunk Contest opened like a blockbuster premiere. Each participant received a custom movie trailer introduction, complete with dramatic narration and slow-motion highlights.
Then came the dunks.
The four contestants — Carter Bryant of the Spurs, Jaxson Hayes of the Lakers, Keshad Johnson of the Heat and Jase Richardson of the Magic — each had two attempts in the first round. The top two would advance to the finals. Five judges sat courtside like royalty: Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins, Dwight Howard, Corey Maggette and Brent Barry — men who once treated rims like their own personal property.
The highlight of the first round belonged to Johnson. And it wasn’t even close.
The Heat forward walked out dancing alongside Bay Area legend E-40 to “Tell Me When to Go,” a cultural anthem that turned the Dome into a West Coast block party.
Then Johnson did exactly that — he told us when to go. He leapt over E-40, cleared him cleanly, smiled midair like he was posing for a magazine cover and hammered it home with authority. It was swagger. It was theater. It was what this contest is supposed to be.
The building erupted.
Then came the local favorite: Hayes, who plays center for the Lakers.
Playing in front of family and friends in his adopted city, Hayes promised excitement.
“I’m just excited. My whole family is here, and I’m excited to put on a show,” he said beforehand. He had studied old contests on YouTube, scrolled Instagram for ideas, searching for that one dunk that “gets people going.”
His first attempt didn’t.
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Hayes took off from just inside the free-throw line and finished with a one-handed slam. The judges awarded it a 44.6 — the lowest score of the first round. In a building that had just witnessed Johnson turn a dunk into a music video, Hayes’ attempt felt like a warm-up layup line drill.
Los Angeles is unforgiving when it’s underwhelmed. The murmurs were immediate.
His second dunk showed more imagination. Hayes tossed the ball to himself, caught it off the bounce, went between the legs and flushed it. It took several attempts — momentum bleeding out with each miss — but when he finally completed it, the score reflected the improvement: 47.2. His 91.8 total was enough to avoid immediate elimination, but he missed the finals by a point.
Hayes had joked earlier that if he could dunk on anyone, it would be “LeBron.” Saturday night, he couldn’t even dunk over the moment.
In a city that breathes basketball mythology, Saturday felt like a missed opportunity for the Lakers’ sixth Slam Dunk Contest participant.
The finals belonged to Bryant and Johnson, and the contrast was electric versus surgical. Johnson brought the showmanship. Bryant brought the hammer.
On his first dunk of the finals, Bryant rose, went between the legs with violent precision and detonated the rim. The judges flashed perfect 50s across the board.
But when the moment mattered the most, Bryant faltered. Needing just 47 points to win the contest, Bryant couldn’t finish any of his attempts on his final dunk. With the clock winding down, Bryant ditched his between-the-legs, off the backboard, reverse dunk and settled for a simple 360 instead. The judges didn’t buy it, and Bryant had blown his chance to be crowned champion.
When the dust settled, it was the Johnson, the Heat forward, who stood alone as the champion, having delivered the most entertaining dunk of the night. In doing so, he proved that consistency, patience and theatrics were all that was needed to follow in the footsteps of legendary past winners like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter.
“I give all the glory to God,” Johnson, a native of Oakland, said after the contest. “Always believe in yourself.”
The NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest remains a strange beast — equal parts nostalgia and innovation, judged by men who once defined it. Saturday night proved something important: Creativity wins the crowd, but execution wins the crown.
