TNT botches Jaylen Brown’s first dunk in Dunk Contest
Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown on Saturday had a whole gimmick planned in the lead-up to his maiden attempt at the 2024 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. But nobody outside of Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. managed to see the actual dunk live.
For his first dunk, Brown had a brief skit prepared wherein a Dominique Wilkins impersonator tried to teach him how to properly execute a windmill slam. The Atlanta Hawks legend and 2-time NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner was one of the judges of the event.
The TNT broadcast showed Brown interacting with the fake Wilkins before panning to an bird’s-eye view of the LED court. But before the broadcast could get the focus back to Brown, the Celtics All-Star’s dunk was already over.
If you're going to broadcast the dunk contest, showing the dunks feels like it should be a priority. pic.twitter.com/YX4UCO9BLZ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 18, 2024
Brown’s element of surprise was perhaps so strong that it even caught the broadcast’s production room off guard. Fans watching at home were at least able to see the dunk on replay. The judges scored it a solid 48.8.
Jaylen Brown’s first dunk fired him into first 🔥💪 pic.twitter.com/1bYG5VML22
— Celtics Junkies (@Celtics_Junkies) February 18, 2024
The NBA All-Star Weekend telecast showing off their LED court gimmick led to an actual dunk not even being shown on live television.
The broadcast blunder was arguably a microcosm of what has plagued the event of late. There have just been way too many dunk contest gimmicks in an attempt to compensate for some ho-hum jams.
Brown ended up losing in the final round to last year’s winner Mac McClung.