Every year of LeBron James’ career, as it gets closer to the All-Star break, people start hoping. “Will this finally be the year we see LeBron in the 
dunk contest?” The answer is always no.
As each year goes by, the hope dwindles a bit as LeBron gets older and loses a little more explosiveness in his legs. Don’t get me wrong, I still think he could put on a hell of a show, but we probably wouldn’t see as good of a performance as 2008 LeBron.
Every NBA fan dreams of a dunk contest between LeBron James, Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard all in their prime. While we’re defying the space-time continuum, let’s throw in Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins in their best shape as well. The point is that everyone thinks the dunk contest should be the best dunkers in the league, and for years LeBron James has deprived us of that.
It’s not going to change either.
James said that he’s thought about doing the dunk contest many times before, but ultimately it’s never been worth it, and he’s even past the point of considering it.
"No," said James. "It's over with. I'm getting too old for that. … There were times when I wanted to do it. But I came into All-Star Weekend a few times banged up and I didn't want to risk further injury."
James is about to turn 28, not exactly over the hill but I have to say he’s right to sit out the competition at this point. I really do think he should have done it in his early days in the NBA, but now it’s all about younger, lesser-known players putting on a show to get their name out there. LeBron has no business tangling with these guys, risking injury and the embarrassment of losing to some guy most people have never even heard of.
The days of wishing we’d see what LeBron James can do in the dunk contest are long gone. At this point, we should just be hoping for some sort of spark to make the competition worth watching again.
