On February 6, Beijing time, a news that disappointed fans around the world was officially announced by the Magic: Aaron Gordon will withdraw from this year's All-Star Weekend slam dunk contest because of his hip injury. The dream of this physically gifted "aerial performance artist" to be crowned the king of slam dunk has once again come to naught.

This was supposed to be Gordon's third consecutive All-Star trip, compared to the previous two times, he is now at the peak of his form and popularity, and it was the best chance to win the championship, but before he could start, he had already fallen to the starting line. Perhaps, the title of slam dunk champion was destined to be missing Gordon, so the genius was so creative that it deprived us all of the opportunity to enjoy his superb performance again.

And Gordon may also become the most regrettable "uncrowned king" in the history of the entire NBA slam dunk contest.

Before the 2016 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest began, it was widely believed that no one else could challenge the defending champions. The year before, Zach LaVine, a 19-year-old young guard, successfully "cosplayed" Michael Jordan in "Space Jam", conquered all the audience with four near-perfect dunk performances, and reawakened the basketball world's enthusiasm for this classic game.

At that time, Gordon, like Will Barton of the Nuggets and Andre Drummond of the Pistons, was considered cannon fodder to accompany the prince to study. After the start of the game, Barton and Drummond also used their actual performances to explain what it means to "focus on participation".

But Gordon is different. Although he was dressed in a dress when he appeared on the show, and he also carried a shiny gentleman's crutch, he looked like a guy who was more important than content, and even the on-site commentary said that the painting style was "weird", but once the basketball was in hand, his whole person changed his appearance.

In the first button, Gordon used a 360-degree turn to change hands under the crotch to test the knife, proving that "Little Griffin" is not in vain. However, until this time, the cheers and applause given to him by the audience were far less enthusiastic and loud than Lavin's.

When he saw LaVine's back-to-back turnover dunk performance, his teammates Wiggins and Towns, who were watching the game from the sidelines, exclaimed exaggeratedly, and together with Zhuang Shen, who was a competitor, also stood up and applauded him. At this time, Gordon just nodded slightly, of course he also admired LaVine very much, but from the bottom of his heart, he wanted to compete with him, not just to enjoy the performance.

In the second round, Barton and Zhuang Shen's performances still did not have many highlights. When it was Gordon's turn, he waved his hand and summoned the Magic mascot from the other end of the court to stand under the basket. Then, starting from the sideline, running, jumping, arching to catch the ball, leaping over the huge obstacle in front of you up to 2.10 meters, and changing hands at the same time, you can complete the terrifying performance cleanly.

The slow motion shows that before Gordon completes the dunk, there is a very noticeable stagnation, and his head has almost hit the basket without his body straightening! This button finally stunned all the fans, players, judges and commentators at the scene, and people finally realized that what appeared in front of them today would not be LaVine's solo dance.

With this performance of 50 points, Gordon and LaVine advanced to the finals without any controversy, and the pinnacle duel between the two men that was later written in history officially began.

In the final, Gordon took the lead, and used a move in the air to turn around the reflexive loop in the first button, and at the same time held the back of his head to salute Ma Long. This dunk is almost exactly the same as the subsequent Laven action, but the difficulty is not the same. Because LaVine is a simple self-throwing and self-buckling, and Gordon not only relies on the help of the mascot again, but also the balance bike driven by Gordon is constantly spinning, which undoubtedly puts forward extremely high requirements for the timing of cooperation. Although the on-site judges gave both men a perfect score of 50, Gordon was undoubtedly superior in terms of this deduction alone.

In the second dunk of the final, Gordon's action continued to escalate: this time, he jumped over the mascot's head again, but instead of leaping, he tucked his abdomen in the air, stretched his legs flat, jumped over the mascot in a "sitting position", changed hands around the ball under his body, and completed the dunk with his left hand! This goal is unprecedented in the history of the slam dunk contest, whether it is creative, difficult, or complete, it is perfect, and Gordon's amazing bounce height and ability to control his body in the air are even more breathtaking.

Although LaVine's free throw line jump to play a small windmill was also an undoubted perfect score performance, considering that the previous score was slightly biased, in fact, Gordon should have locked up the championship at this point. Of course, it is a blessing for fans to be able to continue to enjoy the wonderful performances of two of the top dunkers in history.

Because the four 50-point tie in two rounds, Gordon and LaVine had to go through an extra game to decide the winner. The two people who are obviously unprepared for this, although they can't come up with better ideas, but with their amazing physical talents, they still continue to deliver wonderful performances to the audience, compared to Gordon's first dunk, receiving a rebound pass from the edge of a teammate's rebound, turning around and gliding dunk, in terms of completion and visual impact, the two are still tied at 50 points.

The second dunk, LaVine staged a super difficult dunk with a jump from the free throw line and a change of hands under the crotch, and it is understandable to score another 50 points. It's just that Gordon's contribution to the "air triple fold" was seriously underestimated, and he only got a score of 47 points in the end. This exciting aerial duel also ended in Gordon's regretful defeat.

However, at the award ceremony later, LaVine did not forget to pay tribute to the respectable opponent: "I'm glad that I was well prepared, and normally these [extra moves] don't need to be used. [Gordon] delivered an unbelievably crazy dunk, and he definitely deserved the title of champion, and I was just lucky to have the last laugh. ”

After losing to LaVine in 2016, Gordon said in an interview that the other side deserved to win the championship. But deep down, he must be unwilling, and I hope to have the opportunity to compete with him again. So in New Orleans in 2017, when he was invited to the slam dunk contest again, he decided to participate again without hesitation.

Unfortunately, this time, LaVine did not participate. It's easy to understand why, first of all, he has won two years in a row and has lost the motivation to participate again. In addition, and more importantly, this year, LaVine's on-court performance has improved by leaps and bounds, averaging 18.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game before the All-Star break. Not to mention that later, he suffered a serious injury and was reimbursed early for the season, even if he wanted to participate, he couldn't go.

Gordon is different, although he is the No. 4 pick and has been in the league for three years, Gordon's performance on the court at that time is still far from meeting people's expectations. In the 56 games leading up to the All-Star break, Gordon averaged just 11.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Therefore, the title of a slam dunk king still means a lot to him.

The other three of the four contestants in this year's slam dunk contest are DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers, Derrick Jones of the Suns, and Glenn Robinson, the "puppy" of the Pacers. Among them, Jordan is a big man, and the beauty of the dunk is destined to be incomparable to that of outside players, and although Jones and Robinson are both good enough to jump, they are not special other than that.

Gordon could have easily fulfilled his dream in the simplest and crudest way. This can be fully reflected in the odds offered by the bookmaker before the game: Gordon's odds to win the championship are an astonishing 3 to 2, which means that you bet 3 yuan, and if Gordon wins, he will return 5 yuan with interest. This is equivalent to announcing that Gordon has more than half of the chances of winning the championship!

But maybe it was because he lost to LaVine last year and held his breath, but Gordon racked his brains to play something that no one else had played, shocked the world, and raised his eyebrows.

So, he came up with perhaps the worst idea of his life, using a drone to drop the ball and help complete the dunk. After three failed attempts, Gordon didn't succeed until the fourth time with a crotch dunk that had long since lost its freshness, scoring a low 38 points.

Gordon was frustrated by the poor attempt in the first round of the preliminaries, and in the second round he didn't use that damn drone, but he no longer had the sharpness of the previous year's fierce battle against LaVine, and a back-to-back dunk that wasn't too difficult for him turned around and dunked, and he failed four consecutive attempts, and in the end, only scored a consoling 34 points. I didn't even get a ticket to the finals.

At this time, Gordon, with regret, with a hint of embarrassment, and more discouragement, was interviewed by Sports Illustrated reporter Ben Glover after the game, and he made it clear that he would not participate in the slam dunk contest again. However, in his heart, the flame of the dunk was not extinguished, so after receiving the invitation from the organizing committee for the third time in a row this year, he thought about it again and again and decided to launch a final impact towards the crown of the dunk king.

After the 2016 Slam Dunk Contest became an overnight hit, Michael Jordan gave Gordon a piece of advice: "You should practice your jump shot well." ”

This sentence made a deep impression on Gordon, and he later mentioned it in an exclusive interview with GQ magazine. As it turned out, Gordon did heed the advice of the "God of Basketball" and focused on honing and improving his overall skills.

This season, Gordon has been impressive, averaging a team-high 18.4 points per game so far, along with 8.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Not only that, as a No. 4 player known for his athleticism, he can also shoot 2 three-pointers per game with a 34.6% shooting rate, which is not enough compared to top shooters, but compared to his previous performance, it is already a qualitative leap!

Under such circumstances, Gordon is still willing to accept the invitation to the slam dunk contest, and the main purpose is to be ashamed. In a recent interview with The Orlando Sentinel, Gordon openly acknowledged: "I certainly feel like I have an unfinished business, and no matter what happens in Los Angeles, this slam dunk contest is a task for me to complete." ”

Another reason for Gordon's decision to compete was that this year's All-Star Weekend was scheduled in Los Angeles, and as we all know, Gordon himself is a Californian, and Los Angeles is the equivalent of his hometown. Therefore, this made him believe that this was the best time for him to complete his merits in the dunk.

"Hosting the All-Stars in Los Angeles really made me want to be a part of it because it meant I was going back to California. I'm going to put on a big show for the people back home, and I spent a lot of time in Los Angeles and the Bay Area as a kid, so it's going to be fun. I'm going to give people some great dunks, and I've got some tricks to get to the bottom of the box. I'm going to show off my athletic talent and body control! ”

At the time of his remarks, Gordon was recovering from his injuries. He has missed the last four games in a row after accidentally straining his left hip flexor muscle against the Pacers on Jan. 29. He thought that the injury was not serious this time and that he should be able to recover before the start of the All-Star break.

However, the recovery from the injury has not been satisfactory and according to the latest news, he will still miss at least the next two games. In addition, the Magic's poor situation is also worrying: after a short-lived 8-4 record in the first 12 games of the season, they have only an 8-32 record in the next 40 games, ranking last in the league for the same period. Recently, there have been even rumors that the Magic have been testing Gordon's trade value.

In such a situation, it is obviously not appropriate to take an injury to participate in a slam dunk contest. Even in your hometown.

In fact, Gordon is not wrong, and the responsibility for the Magic's poor performance is not his. This season, Gordon averaged first points per game, second in rebounds, fourth in victory, and second in defensive victory. For a player who is only 22 years old, that is already an outstanding performance. The team is considering trading him because he has the most value in his trade.

Gordon's injury isn't serious, he's much less serious than Cousins' ruptured Achilles tendon, Loew's broken metacarpals, and Wall's chronic knee injury. The only similarity is the timing of the injury.

It's just that all the coincidences made him unable to continue to chase his dream of being the king of dunk, and the fans also lost the opportunity to witness him get rid of the gravity of the earth and stage a violent aesthetic again. For some players, the dunk contest may not matter at all, but it's because they think differently that Gordon is still passionate and loyal to every chance he can take to feast the eyes of his fans.

The NBA needs a performer like Gordon, and fans need a performer like Gordon. It's a pity that he may never appear on the stage of the slam dunk contest again.

In the future, he may be an All-Star or even a championship, but he will always be able to appear as a supporting role in the history of the slam dunk contest.