As we inch closer to the NBA’s All-Star weekend, the participants are starting to become a bit clearer.
On Tuesday, Shams Charania reported the four players participating in this year’s dunk contest. Jalen Green, Obi Toppin, Cole Anthony and Juan Toscano-Anderson.
It appears dunk contests are a young man’s game now, as two of the dunk contest participants, Toppin and Anthony, are second-year players, Toscano-Anderson is in his third season, and Green is a rookie.
Toppin is the lone member of the quartet to have participated in the dunk contest before, competing in last year’s dunk contest and finishing in second place behind Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons. Some may remember this opening dunk from Toppin in 2021.
The other three participants will be first-timers at the event but should provide an excellent spectacle for fans.
Green, a rookie for the Houston Rockets drafted second overall in 2021, has averaged 14.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game but has shown flashes of being something special. For the dunk contest, though, he has certainly shown the ability to throw it down.
Anthony has had a breakout year for the Orlando Magic in his second season out of the University of North Carolina so far this year. Anthony averages 17.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game for a Magic team that desperately needs his production. Anthony even has some dunk contest experience to fall back on, winning the City of Palms high school dunk contest.
Toscano-Anderson is the unlikeliest to win of the four candidates, as just three years ago, he wasn’t even in the NBA. Toscano-Anderson was an undrafted free agent out of Marquette in 2015 and spent time playing professionally in Mexico, Venezuela, and the NBA’s G-League before playing his way onto the Golden State Warriors roster.
Just like the other three, Toscano-Anderson can get up.
The NBA’s All-Star weekend is in just a few weeks, starting on Friday, Feb. 18. The dunk contest and skill challenge will take place on Saturday, Feb. 19, with the All-Star Game wrapping up the weekend on Sunday, Feb. 20.
