Dallas Basketball

Luka Doncic Trick Shots: Should NBA Replace Dunk Contest with All-Star HORSE Game?

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic might not have the play style suited for showing out in the NBA All-Star Game or other weekend events, but that would change if the league added a game of HORSE.

Dalton Trigg

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The Dunk Contest has been a staple of NBA All-Star Weekend for many years, but it might be time to consider replacing it with something new going forward. Saturday night was just the latest in a string of underwhelming Dunk Contests over the last decade as G League player Mac McClung won the event for the second consecutive year.

For the Dunk Contest to be a true success, the league not only needs its best athletes participating in the event, but it needs those athletes to have a certain level of care as well. You can have all the creativity in the world, but if you don't have the athleticism and desire to pull off truly special dunks, the event will continue to fall short of expectations.

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So where should the league go from here? Well, how about replacing the Dunk Contest with a star-studded game of HORSE? Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic wowed the Indianapolis crowd at Saturday's All-Star practice with several insane trick shots. Doncic might not be known for showing out in All-Star Games, but he could certainly be known for doing special things in a game of HORSE.

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is another player who has a knack for hitting insane trick shots with an enhanced level of difficulty. The league tried something different on Saturday night, as Curry and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty went 1-on-1 in a 3-point contest – one that Curry barely won, 29-26. It was something new and exciting, and it was a hit.

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The NBA needs more of that, and the Dunk Contest just isn't getting it done anymore. Here's to hoping commissioner Adam Silver takes the HORSE idea into consideration for next season, because who wouldn't want to see Doncic, Curry and other stars challenging each other with several insanely difficult trick shots? This is something All-Star Weekend needs.

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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