The dunk contest did not just struggle on Saturday night — it may have finally signed its own death warrant. That was the overwhelming sentiment from The Rich Eisen Show crew on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, as they tore into the catastrophic 2026 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, held at the $2 billion Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, during All-Star Weekend.
Eisen and his panel wasted no time calling it what it was, a dunk contest that has run out of reasons to exist. And after what unfolded last Saturday, it is genuinely hard to argue against them.
A Dunk Contest Field No One Asked For
The dunk contest this year featured four participants — Carter Bryant of the San Antonio Spurs, Jaxson Hayes of the Los Angeles Lakers, Jase Richardson of the Orlando Magic, and eventual winner Keshad Johnson of the Miami Heat. On paper, it was a lineup of role players and rookies. On the floor, it played out exactly that way.
Reigning three-time champion Mac McClung was absent, choosing not to defend his title. Without him, the event lost whatever spark it had managed to carry into 2026. The NBA was already facing scrutiny for declining star participation, and this year’s field did nothing to quiet those concerns. Since 2019, no All-Star player had entered — a streak that once again went unbroken.
Hayes, who had impressed with an in-game dunk earlier in the season, delivered something far more underwhelming under the lights. Richardson, the 20-year-old son of two-time champion Jason Richardson, had the most physically dangerous night of anyone involved.
The Fall That Shook the Dunk Contest
The defining moment of the 2026 dunk contest had nothing to do with a clean slam. During his second attempt in the first round, Richardson tried to pull off a 360 off the side of the backboard. His arm caught on the rim, and he crashed hard onto the hardwood, landing on his back and striking his head. The arena went quiet. Even Vince Carter, the legendary dunk contest icon who was serving as an announcer for the event, was visibly shaken.
Richardson eventually stood on his own and completed another attempt — a 360 slam that earned a 43.4 — but the damage was done. His first-round total of 88.8 put him last among all participants. He later confirmed on Instagram that his arm got caught on the side of the backboard during the failed attempt, adding that he was fine physically. The Magic are scheduled to return from the All-Star break Thursday against the Sacramento Kings, and Richardson is expected to play.
But the dunk contest had already lost the room. The energy inside Intuit Dome — already suffering from massive attendance problems throughout the weekend, with thousands of empty seats on display during both Friday’s Rising Stars game and Saturday night’s event — never recovered.
The Dunk Contest Problem Is Bigger Than One Night
The Eisen Show’s criticism zeroed in on something the event has been circling for years: the fundamental disconnect between what fans expect and what it now delivers. The glory era gave the world Michael Jordan‘s free-throw line masterpiece, Vince Carter’s elbow-in-the-rim moment, Blake Griffin soaring over a Kia, and Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon pushing each other to mind-bending heights in back-to-back years from 2016 through 2020.
What Saturday delivered was the opposite. The dunks were technically fine but forgettable. None of them created a moment. The event, which the NBA made a permanent All-Star Saturday fixture in 1984, has now gone years without producing a single clip that transcends the moment it happened.
Johnson won with a final-round score of 97.4, edging Bryant’s 93.0. He earned $105,000 for the victory — a figure that barely registers for the league’s top earners, which analysts have long pointed to as one of the core reasons stars avoid participating. When NBA Cup champions earn north of $500,000, the prize structure feels stuck in another era.
What Needs to Change for the Dunk Contest
The dunk contest conversation has shifted from disappointment to genuine calls for cancellation. Social media lit up Saturday night with fans demanding the NBA either eliminate the event or hand it over to street dunkers, who many argued would deliver a far more exciting dunk contest product than the current format allows.
Others pushed for a 1-on-1 format, financial incentives that could realistically draw star players, and harsher judging standards that stop rewarding average attempts with inflated scores. Pistons All-Star Jalen Duren had reportedly accepted an invitation to this year’s dunk contest before a knee injury forced him out just before the break — a reminder that the league is still trying, even if the results keep falling flat.
The Rich Eisen Show crew did not mince words, the dunk contest is broken, and incremental fixes are no longer enough. Whether the NBA is willing to make the kind of sweeping structural changes the dunk contest desperately needs remains to be seen. But after Saturday night in Los Angeles, the clock is no longer ticking quietly in the background. It is loud, and it is running out.
