The NBA announced on Thursday that Pacers guard/forward Glenn Robinson III will take part in the Verizon Slam Dunk Contest, part of State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, at the 2017 All-Star Weekend in New Orleans.
All-Star Saturday Night, which also includes the Taco Bell Skills Challenge and the Three-Point Contest, will take place at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday, Feb. 18. Television coverage will begin at 8:00 PM ET on TNT.
In his third NBA season and his second with the Pacers, Robinson is currently averaging 6.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. A 6-6 swingman out of Michigan, he has appeared in 46 games and started 24 for the Pacers in the 2016-17 season while shooting 45 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from 3-point range.
Robinson will be one of several Pacers players to take part in All-Star Weekend. Last week, the league announced that center Myles Turner will play in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge on Friday, Feb. 17 and forward Paul George will play in his fourth career All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 19.
Robinson will be the eighth Pacers player to take part in the Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend. Fred Jones won the event in 2004. Other Pacers players to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest include George (2012 and 2014), Gerald Green (2013), Jonathan Bender (2001), Antonio Davis (1994), Kenny Williams (1991), and Terrence Stansbury (1985 and 1986). Darnell "Dr. Dunk" Hillman won a season-long dunk contest held over the course of the 1976-77 NBA season.
Robinson's competitors will be Orlando Magic's Aaron Gordon, last year's runner-up, NBA All-Star DeAndre Jordan of the LA Clippers, and Derrick Jones Jr. of the Phoenix Suns.
Gordon returns to Verizon Slam Dunk after a dazzling performance last year that included three consecutive perfect scores of 50. This season, the three-year veteran is averaging a career-high 11.4 points per game. The 6-9 forward has scored at least 20 points six times after recording five 20-point games in his first two seasons combined.
Jordan, a 2015-16 All-NBA First Team selection and a first-time All-Star in 2017, is tied for the NBA lead in rebounding (13.8 rpg) and paces the league in field goal percentage (69.6) for the fifth straight season. The 6-11 center also has a league-high 150 dunks in his ninth season.
Jones has split time this season between the Suns and their NBA Development League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns. The 6-7 rookie forward will become the first player to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk competition and play in the NBA D-League in the same season. Nicknamed “Airplane Mode” for his leaping ability, Jones won a national dunk contest for high school players in 2015 before playing one season at UNLV.
Verizon Slam Dunk is a two-round event in which the four participants can perform any dunk they choose without time limits. The players have a maximum of three attempts to complete each dunk in both the first round and the final round. Five judges score every dunk on a scale of 6 to 10, resulting in a high score of 50 and a low score of 30.
All four competitors get two dunks in the first round. The two players with the highest combined score for their two dunks advance to the head-to-head final round. The player with the highest combined score for his two dunks in the final round is crowned the champion.