Find someone who wants you as badly as Aaron Gordon wants the Dunk Contest Trophy.
In an interview with SportTechie’s Avery Wang on Thursday, the Orlando Magic forward discussed his disappointing showing in last year’s competition and revealed that he is thinking about returning for a third consecutive year.
“I would have listened to myself a little bit more from the beginning, listened to my body a little bit more,” said Gordon when asked if he would change anything from last year’s Dunk Contest. “I wasn’t feeling all that great, I was hurting a little bit, I probably would’ve listened to my body a little more.”
Gordon was then asked if he would be in the Dunk Contest again this year, to which he replied, “I think I might go back, but we’ll see how the first couple games of the season play out.”
The 21-year-old Gordon melted our minds in the 2016 competition but narrowly lost to Zach LaVine in a decision that was unpopular with many. He returned for the 2017 Dunk Contest but fizzled out, perhaps due to the aforementioned injury, and failed to advance to the final round.
There is no shortage of incoming high-flyers to potentially fill slots for the 2018 competition in Los Angeles. But if Gordon feels he still has something fresh to offer the fans if/when he is at full health (Round 2 against LaVine, por favor?), then more power to him.
