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10 Lowlights of 2017 NBA All-Star Weekend

Written by Jeremy

The 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend was a huge success, highlighted by the back-and-forth dunk duel between Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon.

That said, many were expecting big things from the 2017 All-Star Weekend. Unfortunately, this year’s rendition was anything like what we saw last year.

From missed dunks to players loafing in the Skills Challenge, 2017 won’t be the most-memorable All-Star Weekend.

Here’s a look at 10 lowlights that ruined this year’s event.

1. The Dunk Contest

We’ll get into some of the details of this later. But overall, the 2017 Verizon Slam Dunk competition was a letdown, after seeing Gordon and LaVine topping each other with jams that made Dominique Wilkins’ highlights look like Brian Scalabrine doing power layups.

What we got is a very good (not great) dunker who won in Glenn Robinson III; a YouTube guy who crumbled under the bright lights in Derrick Jones Jr.; somebody who’s too tall to look impressive when dunking in DeAndre Jordan; and Gordon trying to jump with a right foot injury.

2. Aaron Gordon’s Foot Injury and Drone Dunk

When Gordon brought a drone down from the ceiling, it felt like one of those what-would-the-future-be-like moments that people would’ve pondered in the 1990s.

The drone dunk had the potential to steal the show. But after Gordon had four misfires before completing it, the entire contest felt deflated.

Gordon recently suffered a right foot injury, which he’s been struggling through. And it’s a shame since the dunk contest was there for the taking.

3. Devin Booker in the Skills Challenge

We get that this isn’t the crescendo of All-Star Weekend, but it would be nice if everybody took the Skills Challenge seriously, rather than a competition that cool people only go 75% in.

This year, Devin Booker didn’t even look like he was trying. The 20-year-old is having an excellent season, but he’s only in his second year, and hasn’t arrived enough to loaf this contest.

Other players who didn’t seem like they cared too much include DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas, both of whom never hit top speed going down the court. At least in Thomas’ case, he faced off against Booker and got an easy win.

4. Derrick Jones in the Dunk Contest

As a guy who’s only appeared in seven games for the Phoenix Suns, the entire reason why Jones was in New Orleans was for his dunking ability.

He did a solid job and really showed something on his second jam in the first round, where, courtesy of a Booker pass, Jones did an impressive between-the-legs dunk.

But most of his other efforts were unimpressive and included multiple misfires. His first attempt in the finals against Robinson featured three missed attempts, which still earned a 37, with judges trying to keep the action close.

Maybe if Jones makes it back next year he’ll provide a tougher challenge. But this year, he was a distant second place behind Robinson.

5. Klay Thompson Failing to Advance in the Three-Point Contest

Klay Thompson, last year’s three-point champion, had a mediocre run in the three-point competition, where he notched an 18. While this was close to making the top-three cut, it missed out on Kemba Walker’s third-place score of 19.

All the while, we had to listen to off-based commentary by Reggie Miller and Kenny Smith, claiming that Thompson would make 4 out of 5 on every rack.

6. The Media Trying to Rile Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant

Perhaps the media got tired of rehashing Gordon’s attempts to avenge his second-place effort in last season’s dunk competition. So they dug into the barely-there Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant drama.

Westbrook has understandably bitten a few times since the offseason, but neither player seems to hate the other after Durant’s departure. Outside of a few unfriendly exchanges between both players in the heat of competition, there’s nothing here.

But that didn’t stop the media from trying to goad Durant and Westbrook, with no success. Hats off to both for not falling for any of it.

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/832656717800361984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

7. Steph Curry Missing 9 Half-Court Shots

The other Golden State Splash Brother had a rough night in New Orleans too. Asked to hit a half-court shot to meet a $500,000 donation for the [Craig] Sager Strong Foundation, Steph Curry proceeded to brick nine straight half-courters.

Given that the Warriors practice these for fun, and Curry has hit half-courters in actual games, this felt like watching Superman trying to save a runaway train, and instead having it run him over.

On a brighter note, it was fun watching DJ Khaled hit a three-pointer to generate money for Sager Strong.

8. DJ Khaled and Fat Joe’s Performance

Has anybody seen Khaled do anything more talk in the middle of songs and make funny Snapchats? The beloved hip-hop producer decided to use New Orleans to as his rapping stage, with below-average results.

What’s even worse is that Khaled outperformed Fat Joe, who’s supposed to be a rapper…at least back in the early 2000s anyways.

9. New Orleans Booing Eric Gordon During the 3-Point Contest

After playing 5 injury plagued seasons in New Orleans, Eric Gordon signed with the Houston Rockets in the offseason and is enjoying his time on a successful team.

The Big Easy isn’t happy for him, though, booing Gordon throughout the three-point contest as he went on to beat Kyrie Irving in the finals.

This isn’t like KD leaving Oklahoma City for a loaded Golden State team. This is a guy who played 60+ games just twice in his five New Orleans years, then decided to move on for a moderate contract (4 years/$53 million). Is it really worth booing Gordon on All-Star weekend?

10. The All-Star Game

This isn’t an indictment on the 2017 All-Star game, but rather a complaint about the game in general.

We get it: these guys can jump, alley-oop, hit 30-footers. We don’t need to see 48 minutes of a defenseless exhibition to prove these points.

The All-Star game is quickly becoming an afterthought to Saturday night’s competitions…that is, as long as Saturday’s events stay entertaining too.