Jaylen Brown In Dunk Contest Again? Celtics Star Weighs In On Future Participation

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown might not be one-and-done when it comes to the NBA Dunk Contest.

Brown participated in the marquee event for the first time in his career last weekend and was the headline name in a field that featured two G Leaguers. Brown ended up coming in second place behind two-time reigning champion Mac McClung.

But coming up just short of being crowned the dunk champion didn’t put a damper on the experience for Brown, who revealed Thursday prior to the Celtics facing the Chicago Bulls at United Center that he would be open to participating in the competition again — perhaps even as soon as next season.

“If nobody else cares to do it, then (expletive) it, I’ll do it again,” Brown told reporters, per CLNS Media. “I don’t really care. People think like memes and stuff. But like I said, I think dunking is an art form. Obviously I think I got more in the tank than what I displayed. I think I could perform better. I had a great time.

“Things didn’t go as planned for whatever reason. I thought it was a great experience for me. I had fun. That’s the bottom line for me. So, if they didn’t have nobody to do it next year and the NBA ask me and they want to get the views back up, I think I can redeem myself for sure.”

The Dunk Contest has lost a considerable amount of star power in recent years with the NBA’s top talent refusing to take part in the event out of fear of being shamed on social media or risk of injury.

Brown bucked the trend and tried to be a showman. The Celtics forward paid tribute to late Boston native Terrence Clarke and Michael Jackson while jumping over a seated social media star in Kai Cenat with the help of Jayson Tatum.

“I wasn’t trying to do anything crazy,” Brown said, per MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “Everything I wanted to do was more about the gimmicks and the showmanship, put on a show. But people didn’t really care about any of that stuff. They just wanted to see you go between the legs twice. I think the dunk contest should be more about the show, as well as putting on a show, the hype. But it’s changed from that. People only want to see a spectacular dunk.”

After going through this experience now, perhaps Brown will have more in his bag of dunk tricks the next time he competes in the annual event.