Iman Shumpert planned to jump over couch for Jeremy Lin dunk at contest

Iman Shumpert had a sick Linsanity dunk planned for the dunk contest until he had to pull out because of a knee injury. The Knicks rookie guard says he was going to jump over a couch as a nod to teammate Jeremy Lin, who famously slept on his brother’s living room couch until the team guaranteed his contract.

“He was going to help me out,” Shumpert told The New York Post. “Once my knee was so sore, I started thinking about it: ‘Am I going to be able to jump over the couch?’ All kinds of things to think about.’”

Shumpert has missed the team’s last two games and will miss the All-Star festivities because of tendinitis in his knee. Utah’s Jeremy Evans will replace him in the slam dunk contest, which now boasts one of the most anonymous fields ever — Evans, Derrick Williams, Paul George, and Chase Budinger. I’m guessing a Linsanity dunk would have been enough to take the title. That would have been better than jumping over a car.