Dwyane Wade didn’t have much of a defense prepared for his controversial decision to anoint Derrick Jones Jr. the winner of the 2020 dunk contest on Saturday night. Wade was among the judges who docked points from Aaron Gordon’s epic final dunk, when he leaped over Tacko Fall.
Yes, the same Tacko Fall who is 7-foot-5 (89 inches). But Gordon inexplicably received just a 47 for the the dunk, leading to Jones Jr.’s win.
“It took nine rounds. I mean, it wasn’t biased. I wasn’t the only one who gave him a 9, let’s talk about that. There was three people that gave a nine. But people are going to talk,” Wade said after the contest, via Complex Sports. “Aaron Gordon is not going to lose any sleep about not winning a dunk contest. He’s one of our better NBA players and one of the young stars in this league. But it was entertainment, and at the end of the day, as judges, we had to come up with a winner. It was unfortunate, but we had to.”
Wade seems to be wrong about Gordon’s reaction to the loss. He couldn’t win in 2016 after clearly being the best dunker on the court. And he couldn’t win in 2020 after, again, clearly being the best dunker on the court. It seems Gordon is quitting the dunk contest.
“It’s a wrap, bro. It’s a wrap. I feel like I should have two trophies,” Gordon told reporters, via The Washington Post’s Ben Golliver.
If it really is the end, this is D-Wade’s fault (along with the two other judges that botched this decision).
