LeBron Brushes Off Magic Johnson’s Slam-Dunk Offer

Would you play in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest if the top prize was $1 million? You’d have to consider it even if you’re not LeBron James. The Miami Heat forward has to be intrigued by Lakers legend Magic Johnson’s offer, but for now he’s shrugging it off.

Ever since he came into the league, James has turned down every opportunity to appear in the competition. Fans were left to infer the reasons for his refusals — he has more to lose than win, the risk of injury, etc. — but he stood firm on his decision.

Yet during the 2013 All-Star break as the hype was building, James himself posted a cryptic tweet on Feb. 8 (“Dunk contest?”) leading many to believe there was a chance that the big man would finally crash the slamma-jamma party. As it turns out, it was a smoke screen: he didn’t happen this year, either. The closest he came to entering was in 2010, when he had consented to appear “preliminarily” but reversed decision before the contest began.

Now Johnson wants to make it happen by boosting the stakes to the winner of the contest from the current $100,000 — apparently, though, the offer stands only if King James agrees to enter. “I’m going to put up a million dollars,” Johnson said last week. “One million dollars to LeBron, please get in the dunk contest. I go every year, I want to see you out there. A million to the winner.”

With apologies to Terrence Ross, “Spud” Webb and the other previous winners, there’s no doubt interest would go sky-high if that was to happen. It’s been a while since luminaries such as Michael Jordan and “Dr. J” Julius Erving showed their dunking skills. The ironic thing here is James is considered to be one of the best in the business right now, and displays it almost every night — in pre-game warmups and in games, too.

At the moment, James says he is just concentrating on the present and has brushed off Magic’s suggestion (“tell him I’ll get back to him”). He confirmed his ambivalence later in a post-game interview.

“Right now, I don’t know, it doesn’t really stand anywhere,” James told reporters. “Right now I’m so focused on what we’re doing as a team — shoot, All-Star weekend is how far away? I’m not even really thinking about that right now. But it was entertaining to hear him say that.”

On behalf of those who care about such things, LeBron — Mr. James, sir — it would be far more entertaining for us if we could see you do that… with or without the $1-million bait.