ORLANDO, Fla. _ It's now official: Aaron Gordon is back in the NBA slam dunk contest.
The league on Tuesday night unveiled the participants in its various All-Star Game events and the Orlando Magic forward is among the dunk competitors.
Gordon will be joined by Derrick Jones Jr. of the Heat, Pat Connaughton of the Bucks and Dwight Howard of the Lakers.
The dunk contest will be held at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15, at the United Center and will be broadcast on TNT.
It will be Gordon's third dunk competition. He famously finished second to then-Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine, who now plays for All-Star host Chicago, during the 2016 event in Toronto, where Gordon wowed the crowd at Scotiabank Arena with dunks involving Stuff, the Magic mascot.
Gordon delivered arguably the event's most memorable dunk with an assist from Stuff. Gordon jumped over Stuff, grabbed the ball from the mascot's outstretched hands, passed the ball under his legs from his right hand to his left hand and threw down a reverse slam.
It's hard to discuss some of the greatest dunks in NBA slam dunk contest history without "the floating chair" dunk _ just one of its many descriptions _ making the list.
Gordon also took part in the 2017 competition, but he didn't make it out of the first round.
This time around would have made for quite the rematch, with the event playing out on LaVine's home court. But LaVine is taking part in the 3-point shooting competition instead.
