The 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest will feature a slew of first-time contestants, as opposed to a who’s who of the world’s greatest basketball players.
Let’s get to know them.
First, though, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Mike McClung, who has won the past three Slam Dunk Contests but chose not to participate this year. Over the past five seasons, he has made 10 appearances for five different teams on a series of 10-day two-way contracts, totaling 123 minutes.
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The 6-foot-2, 185-pound McClung is one of the most creative and impressive dunkers in the world and has NBA credentials. only. That’s more than most of us can say. But still. Since 2017, most of the Slam Dunk contest has been without an active All-Star, save for Jaylen Brown in 2024. Back in the 1980s, there was a rivalry between two of the greatest dunkers in the history of the sport, Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins.
This is an event hosted by 2000 All-Star guard/forward Vince Carter.
Now? Now back to our regularly scheduled show: this year’s dunkers, who actually need an introduction.
Carter Bryant, San Antonio Spurs
high: 6 feet 6 inches
Vertical jump: 39.5 inches
2025-26 Dunk: 7
2025-26 minutes: Chapter 362
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Kobe Bryant is the Spurs’ rookie wing player, averaging three points per game.
Carter’s explosive athleticism led to him being selected with the 14th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, despite averaging 6.5 points per game as a freshman at Arizona.
The 20-year-old’s grandfather is inducted into the National Deaf Basketball Hall of Fame, according to a profile of Bryant on the Arizona State alumni website. His grandmother, who was also deaf, worked at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, where his father was the girls basketball coach. Bryant’s mother was a sign language interpreter, and Carter Bryant was fluent in American Sign Language.
Jackson Hayes, Los Angeles Lakers
high: 7 feet
Vertical jump: 34.5 inches
2025-26 Dunk: 72
2025-26 minutes: Chapter 745
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Hayes is the Lakers’ backup center, which in itself makes him a poor choice. No one wants to see a 7-foot-tall guy dunk on a 10-foot rim, even if he’s one of the most dunked players in the NBA. Only Jericho Sims’ dunks accounted for a higher percentage of his field goal percentage.
As it happens, Sims is also the last center to compete in the competition, finishing third in 2023. The last and only center to actually win the event was Dwight Howard in 2008.
In June 2022, Hayes pleaded no contest to charges of false imprisonment and resisting an officer and was sentenced to 450 hours of community service, one year of weekly domestic violence classes and three years of probation. The NBA has not imposed a formal suspension.
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In November 2024, TMZ released nearly six minutes of surveillance video of the alleged dispute. In the video, Hayes can be seen getting into a physical altercation with a woman and spitting at her, saying, “I’m not going to let you hit me again.”
“We are reopening the investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN at the time. Although Hayes was suspended for one game last week for “pushing the Washington Wizards mascot,” the NBA did not impose any discipline on Hayes for the incident.
Hayes began his NBA career in New Orleans, playing four seasons there before signing with the Lakers in 2023.
Keshad Johnson, Miami Heat
high: 6 feet 6 inches
Vertical jump: 42 inches
2025-26 Dunk: 9
2025-26 minutes: 159
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Johnson, another wing player, played 37 times for the Heat in two seasons and averaged 3.1 points per game this season. He went undrafted out of San Diego State and Arizona State and converted his two-way contract to a standard NBA contract in December of this season.
Johnson announced his retirement from the Aztecs on Nov. 6, 2018, seven years after his brother Kenny Jr. was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot three times, according to a 2018 profile of the Oakland native by the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“Just wrong place, wrong time, living in Oakland, meeting a rival community,” Johnson told the publication when he announced his commitment to San Diego State eight years ago. “He was shot right outside my fifth-grade classroom. If I looked out the window, I could see blood on the sidewalk. The next few days, when I went to school, the blood was still there.”
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Johnson’s brother wears No. 16. He will wear the same number with the Heat on Saturday.
Jace Richardson, Orlando Magic
high: 6 feet 1
Vertical jump: 38 inches
2025-26 Dunk: 4
2025-26 minutes: Chapter 464
Richardson is a rookie guard for the Magic, averaging 5.1 points per game. Known for his shooting ability as a freshman at Michigan State, Richardson is the No. 25 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
He is also the 20-year-old son of Jason Richardson, who won the 2002 and 2003 NBA Slam Dunk Contest as a member of the Golden State Warriors. Jason Richardson is one of seven multiple winners in the event’s history, joining McClung, Jordan, Wilkins, Nate Robinson, Zach LaVine and Harold Miner. Only McClung and Robinson won three times.