On February 14, 2016, during the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Aaron Gordon, a professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic, wowed audiences with his incredible dunk over the mascot. The dunk contest is an event held during the NBA All-Star Weekend, where players showcase their athleticism and creativity by performing jaw-dropping dunks. Gordon's dunk over the mascot became one of the most memorable moments in the history of this competition. When it was Gordon's turn, he decided to involve the mascot of the Magic, known as Stuff the Magic Dragon, in his dunk. The mascot held the ball in his hands while standing on a hoverboard, as Gordon sprinted towards him from the other side of the court. With his incredible leaping ability, Gordon managed to jump over Stuff the Magic Dragon, caught the ball from his hands in mid-air, performed a beautiful twirling motion, and then finished with a powerful one-handed slam dunk.

Column: Aaron Gordon Was Not Robbed in the Slam Dunk Contest

The NBA descended upon Chicago for the 2020 All-Star Weekend, with Saturday night’s festivities being capped off with the Slam Dunk Contest. This year’s contest was show-stopping, and the ending was one of the most controversial endings in history. Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon and Miami Heat guard Derrick Jones Jr. each put on a show, but Jones captured the victory in sudden death.

Fans, spectators and players were outraged that Gordon didn’t take home the trophy, especially since he lost another controversial sudden death showdown in the 2016 dunk contest. Gordon was the clear favorite as all but one of his dunks scored a perfect 50 out of 50 this year. However, his final dunk was what cost him the victory, as he only put up a 47, compared to Jones’ final dunk, which garnered a 48. Jones had scored 4 consecutive 50s leading up to the final sudden death round, so he was going toe-to-toe with Gordon the whole night.

So was Gordon robbed?

Many will argue that the judging panel was biased in favor of Jones, especially because his former teammate, Dwyane Wade, was on the panel. But, if Jones really was favored, then he would have gotten perfect scores all night long. This wasn’t the case, as his first dunk only got a 46, and his final sudden death dunk got a 48. Meanwhile, Gordon got 50s on every dunk leading up to the final sudden death dunk. If anything, Gordon was the one getting preferential treatment.

However, Gordon had two dunks that were easily beaten by Jones.

The first was in the second dunk of the second round. This is usually the final round of the contest, but because the scores were tied, the contest was extended. Jones went first and threw down a dunk that can only be described as never-before-seen. He caught a pass off of the backboard, threaded the ball between his legs and flushed down a powerful one handed slam. Not to mention, he did this while also jumping over the guy who threw the pass to him. This dunk absolutely deserved a 50 due to its complexity, perfect timing and Jones’ ability to pull this off on the first attempt.

Gordon had to respond with a 50, and he chose to do a 360 windmill off of the side of the backboard. This dunk is a tough dunk to pull off, but Gordon’s own history in the dunk contest makes this dunk far less impressive than it could have been.

In 2016, Gordon grabbed the ball from the Orlando Magic mascot, who was spinning on a hoverboard, and slammed down a 360 windmill. This dunk is more complicated to pull off because the timing of catching a spin is harder to pull off than catching a ball coming off of the backboard. Gordon managed to hit this dunk on the first attempt. If Gordon made the 360 windmill off of the backboard on the first attempt, it would have certainly been considered an automatic 50.

Gordon missed his first attempt.

There have been plenty of dunks in the contest that have taken several attempts to complete, but the majority of them have not been awarded a perfect score. In the 2016 contest, Gordon hit an impressive between the legs dunk over the aforementioned mascot on his second attempt, and he received a 49 for his efforts because judge Shaquille O’Neal had a rule that he would not award a dunk with a perfect 10 because it took more than one attempt to complete. Even though O’Neal was not a judge this year, he set a precedent that should have been followed through. Gordon managed to get a perfect score on a dunk that would not have gotten a 50 if the panel was different. Jones deserved the perfect 50. Gordon probably shouldn’t have gotten a 50 for his.

The final round of sudden death was the most controversial round, with Jones pulling off a windmill from one step inside of the free throw line. The dunk has been done before, but when Lavine did this dunk in 2016, he took off from further back than Jones did. The judges did the right thing and only gave Jones a 48.

Gordon’s response was to bring out Boston Celtics’ rookie Tacko Fall, who is the tallest player in the NBA at 7-feet-5-inches tall. Gordon grabbed the ball from behind Tacko’s head and tried to leap over him. While being able to clear Fall would be impressive, Gordon clipped the back of Fall’s head with his leg, and hit a two-handed slam that rattled around the rim and went in.

Being able to almost clear Fall is definitely impressive, but hitting Fall’s head combined with a basic dunk that had a clunky execution earned Gordon a 47, ending the contest. Jones was able to hit his dunk with a powerful flush that was more impressive than Gordon’s dunk, which rattled around the rim before it went in. Plus, Jones did a dunk which he had never done previously, while Gordon had dunked over someone in the previous four dunks. Execution and originality was the difference that elevated Jones’ dunk over Gordon’s.

Aaron Gordon didn’t get screwed out of the dunk contest title. Derrick Jones Jr. was simply better than him.

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What Happened To Aaron Gordon’s Dunks?

Welcome to Four-Point Play, our weekly NBA column that pieces together four statistical trends from around the league and lays out what they tell us about where a team has been or where it’s heading. Find a stat you think should be included here? Email or tweet me at [email protected] or @Herring_NBA.

Casual basketball fans who weren’t aware of the Orlando Magic’s Aaron Gordon became familiar with him when he leaped over a mascot during last year’s slam dunk contest.

But now Gordon, perhaps the best dunker in the league, isn’t dunking nearly as much. And although there isn’t a sure-fire explanation, Orlando’s congested offense may deserve a lot of the blame.

The 21-year-old’s dunk rate — the percentage of his 2-point tries that are slams — is down 25 percent from last season, 1 a surprising drop for a player so young. That a whopping 42 percent of his dunks have come in transition, according to SportVU, which tracks almost everything that happens on the court, suggests that he’s at his dunkiest before his teammates get in the way. His transition dunk rate has made a huge jump from 2014-15 and 2015-16, when 24 percent and 29 percent of his slams, respectively, stemmed from fast-break situations.

Sources: Basketball-Reference.com, SportVU

Put another way: It’s becoming more and more rare to see Gordon dunk in routine, half-court situations. And simply watching the Magic try to run their offense shows part of the reason why.

Orlando, after hiring ex-Pacers coach Frank Vogel, overhauled its roster hoping that it could zig while most teams in today’s small-ball league have zagged. Despite already having young, talented bigs in Gordon and Nikola Vucevic, the Magic invested heavily in the frontcourt by trading guard Victor Oladipo for Serge Ibaka and then signing center Bismack Biyombo to a four-year, $72 million contract. Vogel, in an offseason interview with ESPN’s Zach Lowe, said he envisioned the sizable club pummeling opponents, much like his Indiana teams did.

But the big-men acquisitions have created a rotational logjam and a logjam in the paint. Opposing defenses have anchored themselves in the paint and built a wall, daring the poor-jump-shooting Magic to spot up from outside. Orlando takes 16 unguarded jumpers from 10 or more feet per night — the sixth-highest number in the league — yet has the fourth-worst effective field-goal rate in those situations.

And even though Ibaka and Vucevic are solid shooters for their respective positions, the little spacing they provide is nullified by the rest of the team’s failure from distance. The Magic’s 33 percent mark from 3-point range is third-worst in the association. (Gordon also contributes to this; he is one of five Orlando rotation players shooting worse than 30 percent from the arc.)

The poor outside shooting, and the wall it allows unfazed defenses to construct in the paint, appears to be a major part of why Gordon hasn’t been able to take flight.

There are other things contributing to Gordon’s dunk decline. The move to small forward has him out on the perimeter considerably more often, meaning that not only is he taking more triples, but he’s also being tasked with getting back on defense, as opposed to hunting the offensive glass for putbacks. And since the preseason, he’s battled a couple of ankle injuries, a tricky ailment for someone who relies so much on his athleticism.

Still, Gordon’s numbers with certain lineups suggest that spacing is his biggest problem. His dunk numbers, while still lower, are a bit more in line with his career percentages when he plays alongside fellow starters Ibaka and Vucevic. He slams home 14 percent of his 2-point attempts when teamed with that duo, according to NBA Wowy, which tracks advanced player and team metrics when certain lineups share the court.

Rate is calculated by taking the number of dunk tries and dividing it by a player’s number of 2-point shots.

Source: NBA Wowy

But his rate falls off considerably when flanked by an extra big who doesn’t shoot as well. When he’s on the floor with Biyombo (as much a non-shooter as they come) and Ibaka, for instance, he dunks just 10 percent of the time. The number falls even further, to 7 percent, when sharing the court with Vucevic and Biyombo.

Here’s to hoping that the Magic can find a way to open the lane just a bit so we can finally see Gordon start throwing down some highlight-reel dunks after all-star weekend, too.

With his incredible leaping ability, Gordon managed to jump over Stuff the Magic Dragon, caught the ball from his hands in mid-air, performed a beautiful twirling motion, and then finished with a powerful one-handed slam dunk. The audience erupted in cheers and applause, and social media quickly exploded with videos and photos capturing the amazing moment. Gordon's dunk brought a level of excitement and awe to the crowd that is rarely seen in live sports.

Kyrie’s Houdini-like ball-handling reaches new heights

Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving has always possessed the kind of handles that would qualify him for an And One mixtape. But although he’s long been slick with the basketball, he’s never been as efficient with one particular type of play as he has been this season.

Taking a page from the book of ex-Cavs star Mark Price, Irving has been more devastating than usual when splitting pick-and-roll defenders. Of the 17 times he’s pulled the move out of his bag, the 24-year-old has scored 14 times, for an NBA-best 82 percent success rate, according to Synergy Sports Technology.

The play usually entails a defender being shedded by Irving after he gets a high screen from Tristan Thompson and then quickly crossing the ball into the paint before the second defender can step up to slow his progress.

Despite using the move on more than 5 percent of his pick-and-rolls, according to Synergy, Irving hasn’t committed a turnover while splitting a pick-and-roll since the 2013-14 season.

Maybe Uncle Drew’s success with the split will finally teach the youngbloods not to reach once and for all.

The combination of his incredible athleticism, timing, and creativity made this dunk a standout moment in NBA history. Despite the impressive dunk, Gordon narrowly missed winning the dunk contest that year, losing to Zach LaVine in what is considered one of the greatest dunk-off competitions of all time. However, the dunk over the mascot remains an enduring image of Gordon's talent and skill as a basketball player. Since then, Aaron Gordon has continued to impress fans with his high-flying dunks, showcasing his ability to defy gravity and amaze audiences worldwide. His dunk over the mascot will always be remembered as a highlight in his career, solidifying his place as one of the most electrifying dunkers in the NBA..

Reviews for "Aaron Gordon's Dunk over Mascot Inspires Young Athletes Everywhere"

1. John - 1/5 - I was really disappointed with the "Aaron Gordon dunk over mascot" performance. I have seen better dunks in other basketball games. The build-up to the dunk was too long and it didn't even leave me feeling amazed or impressed. I expected something spectacular like the famous Michael Jordan dunk or Vince Carter's slam in the 2000 NBA All-Star Dunk Contest, but this fell flat. Overall, I felt like the stunt was overhyped and didn't deliver the excitement I was hoping for.

2. Sarah - 2/5 - As a big fan of basketball, I was eagerly awaiting the "Aaron Gordon dunk over mascot" video. However, I was left feeling underwhelmed after watching it. The dunk itself was not as impressive as I expected and the mascot's involvement felt more like a distraction. The whole act lacked creativity and originality, and it seemed like a desperate attempt to create buzz around Aaron Gordon. I believe there are many other amazing dunks out there that deserve more recognition. This one was just overhyped and did not meet my expectations.

3. David - 2/5 - I found the "Aaron Gordon dunk over mascot" to be lackluster. The execution of the dunk was sloppy, and it seemed like Gordon was struggling to clear the mascot. Additionally, the whole routine felt rehearsed and staged, taking away the raw excitement that comes with a great dunk. It's disappointing to see such a hyped-up event fall short of the expectations, especially when there are so many other impressive dunks showcased in the world of basketball. Overall, I was not impressed with this particular dunk and I don't understand the hype surrounding it.

The Artistry of Aaron Gordon's Dunk over Mascot