Saturday's slam dunk contest kicked off with the likes of Michael Jordan from the free-throw line and Blake Griffin flying over the car. Then came Sunday's All-Star Game, which was more like an upgraded version of the Slam Dunk Contest, with some actual basketball game pauses interspersed.

That said, it's going to be a bit awkward for Kyle Lowry these days.

Lowry has been a breakthrough player this season as the Raptors' main guard. Not only did that earn him a ticket to the All-Star Pool in New York this year, but it also landed him in the starting spot on the Eastern Conference lineup. But here's the problem: Lowry hasn't dunked all season.

NBA players who don't dunk are as rare as primitive people who haven't used smartphones in the 21st century. Lowry is the leading scorer in a zero-dunk basketball this season, but he hasn't faced much competition. Only 17 percent of the players who played more minutes in the league have yet to dunk a basket. At the end of last season, that number was stuck at 15 percent.

The truth is that Lowry is only 6 feet (183 centimeters) tall, and he is one of the shortest players in the league, and he hasn't dunked in the regular season since 2008. This fact surprised Lowry himself, who was convinced that he hadn't dunked since 2006.

Recently, he learned that he had misremembered, and Lowry looked quite proud, as if he had picked up $100 on the side of the road. Shouting as he walked through the bustling pitch in the training gym, Lowry walked up to team-mate Chuck Hayes and enthusiastically called everyone in sight to reminisce about the rare moment. He shouted, "Come here!" ”

Hayes heard about the news and asked Lowry how far he needed to run to dunk. Lowry simply ignored his question, saying, "I know what's going on. In Miami, I broke the ball and then dunked a double ball. I swear to God! ”

Hayes took over and said, "You might have to climb to something......

Lowry replied, "No! ”

There's a secret in the NBA about dunking, and that's that dunks are actually quite annoying. Scheming players, at least those who don't rely on dunks to score in games, know the importance of conserving energy.

In a competitive season, it takes extra effort to dunk, but the points you get are no different from a civilian layup. Then, after the dunk is complete, the player who occasionally dunks will wake up the next day to find that his body is more sore than usual.

Many players who don't dunk often remember the last time they dunked, and they remember that the dunk seemed like it was yesterday, but the fact is that it is a thing of the past.

Clippers guard J.J. Redick can still remember the game in which he dunked in the 2011 playoffs. He said, "How could I forget? There are not a few times in my memory that I can pick and choose. ”

At a young age, Redick learned to avoid dunks as much as possible. He said he had repeatedly injured his wrist at the age of eight, so he eventually learned how to protect himself under the basket, and he trained more seasoned than to dunk.

But the problem is that Redick is now surrounded by dunk players, and the Clippers are number one on the NBA dunk list. DeAndre Jordan has more dunks than Redick has ever hit with three points. Under the influence of this teammate, Reddick followed suit. Last month, Jordan and Griffin made a joke with Redick because he opted for a layup after receiving a dunkable pass. Redick himself admitted that he should have dunked at the time. It's a bit of a pity that the 1.93-meter-tall guard doesn't dunk, and he said that he only dunks when he feels good in the warm-up phase now, just to show people that he can dunk.

"It's a bit like a '40-year-old virgin': if you don't use it, you don't have it," Redick said. I'm 30 now, and every week I have to check if I'm okay. ”→_→

In their respective careers, Lowry has dunked twice and Redick once. However, this is better than some NBA veterans.

Orlando Magic guard Luke Redno has had a long, practical NBA career. He's played for five different teams in 12 seasons, and according to Basketball-Reference, he currently has more points than the 83 players on the active roster, though none of those points come from the most relaxed shooting in basketball.

His current teammate, Channing Frye, asked him, "You've never dunked in an NBA game?" ”

Ridno replied, "I hadn't thought about it at all. ”

According to Stats LLC, among players who have played in the NBA this season, Redno is the player with the most career points among players with zero dunks. This specific statistic has been recorded since 2003, and in this not-so-good stat column, only Steve Nash can score more than Rednow. Ridno said: "Not only that, but also 'Bug' Boggs, right? ”

Magosy Boggs is the shortest player in NBA history, standing just 1.60m tall and retiring in 2001. Through his spokesman, we learned that he could dunk with a volleyball, but not with a basketball because it was larger. But height doesn't limit everyone. "Potato" Webb is less than 1.70 meters tall, but won the 1986 All-Star Slam Dunk title. Nate Robinson, who is currently a free agent, is only 1.75 meters tall, and he is a three-time slam dunk contest champion.

Ridno is 1.88 meters tall and said his last dunk was back in high school. In his own words, he pushed his way and "barely got the ball in". He doesn't plan to do it again anytime soon. "I'm proud that I'm not worried about the zero dunk stats," he said. ”

Lowry is the only All-Star player who has been teased by his teammates for "never" never dunking, but he said the same thing: "I don't think I'm going to dunk this season, you know it now." ”

Of course, whether he can dunk or not does not show the ability of the player himself, after all, as far as Lowry is concerned, there is no need to say much about his ability, not to mention the playoffs, then he is definitely a first-class guard in the league in the regular season, not to mention a first-class point guard! That's a quasi-first-class player, and it doesn't affect anything if he doesn't dunk, after all, this is not an invisible condition, look at Curry, look at Thompson, each of them is the king of dunks, but such a player has become an existence that changes the pattern of the league!