Fans went wild after Jayson Tatum attempted a one-handed dunk during his season debut in the Boston Celtics’ matchup against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Tatum finally made his long-awaited debut on March 6. This occurred approximately 10 months after tearing his Achilles in Game 4 of the 2025 East Semifinals against the New York Knicks.

Tatum missed the first 62 games of the season, leaving him with 20 games left to potentially participate. Making his debut against Dallas, he attempted a one-handed dunk in the opening minutes of the second quarter. Even though the rim rejected him, the fans in attendance were happy to see him use that burst of athleticism to improve his health.

TD Garden was almost destroyed after this dunk attempt by Jayson Tatum 👀🗣️

pic.twitter.com/mAajlxH7W

– ClutchPoints (@clutchpoints) 7 March 2026

The popularity of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest is declining, as the most famous players are refusing to compete. Not only are the most recognizable names going begging, even the best dunkers see no justification in putting themselves out there for the glory of being the league’s dunk king. The prestige that the competition once had is no longer there. But Phoenix Suns owner Matt Ishbia is on his way to doing something to try to change players’ minds.

In an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, the Suns owner pledged $2 million to revitalize the Slam Dunk Contest.

“My take on it is how can we bring great players to it. How can we make it a great event. How can we make the fan experience phenomenal. We’re going to make it an amazing event,” Ishbia said. “Let’s do this. We can do this. Tell me what we’re doing?”

McAfee said, “You will invest one million dollars for the winner. And then donate one million dollars to the charity of their choice.”

“Done. Let’s get the best people in there. Let’s make it amazing,” Ishbia responded.

Suns owner Matt Ishbia has one last attempt to revive the NBA Slam Dunk Contest

The 2026 NBA Slam Dunk Contest is considered by many to be one of the worst ever. Jackson Hayes did a warmup dunk in the actual contest. Jess Richardson risked his life. Carter Bryant tried, but he couldn’t keep up with Keshad Johnson and his bizarre dance moves.

Giving monetary incentives has certainly worked wonders in the past, although it is not at all clear whether this will give the best players a chance to compete again as they already have millions and crores in their bank accounts and will not be incentivized in any way.

Alpern Sengun delivered an incredible dunk highlight during Monday night’s clash between the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz.

Sengun is in his fifth year of his NBA career with the Rockets. He has become one of the best big men in the league, helping the Rockets return to relevance.

His offensive skills, especially his play-making, often come to light. What isn’t often highlighted is his dunking tendencies. That part of his game was on full display during Houston’s contest with Utah. The highlight came in the third quarter when Sengun and Kevin Durant used pick-and-roll action to go it ahead. Durant passed the ball back to his co-star, who took a euro step to get past his defender and then leapt into the air for a reverse dunk.

Alpern Sengun with Euro for the Reverse Slam 😮‍💨pic.twitter.com/0OzVBcpvl7

– ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) 24 February 2026

Alpern Sengun, how the Rockets played against the Jazz

Successfully completing it was a big highlight for Alpern Sengun, helping the Rockets blow out the Jazz 125-105 at home.

Perimeter shooting and rebounding made the difference in this matchup. The Rockets won both categories after making 18 3-pointers and grabbing 53 rebounds. It wasn’t the same for the Jazz as they only converted eight triples and grabbed 36 rebounds.

Six players scored in double figures for Houston in the win, including Sengun. He finished with a stat line of 16 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, two blocks and one steal on 7 of 12 shooting from the field. Jabari Smith Jr. made a splash with a performance of 31 points, nine rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Amen Thompson finished second with 20 points and seven rebounds, Kevin Durant had 18 points and 12 assists, Reed Shepard had 15 points and four assists, while Terri Eason provided 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Houston improved to a 35–21 record on the season and finished fourth in the Western Conference standings. They are one game up on the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves. However, they trail the Denver Nuggets on tiebreakers and the San Antonio Spurs by 5.5 games.

The Rockets will stay at home and await their next matchup. They will host the Sacramento Kings as tip-off takes place on February 25 at 8 PM ET.

The San Antonio Spurs enter Saturday’s game against the Sacramento Kings looking to extend their seven-game winning streak. Early in the first quarter, Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was doing his best to throw down an incredible slam dunk after deceiving Kings big man Maxime Renaud.

This game occurred when the Spurs were already leading by double digits, 16–6. Victor Wembanyama caught the ball on the wing, dribbled into the paint, pretended to spin left, only to go right and throw down a slam dunk.

However, at the time of publication, the Kings had managed to mount a comeback midway through the second quarter and tie the game. Spurs will need more plays like Wembanyama’s to maintain their winning streak.

Wembanyama is coming off his second consecutive All-Star selection after being voted as a starter. As part of the league’s new format, he represented Team World, which lost both of its games in the round-robin tournament due to early exits. After the All-Star Game, Wembanyama was outspoken about his competitiveness and desire to win on All-Star Weekend.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Wembanyama is already one of the top five players in the NBA. With a unique blend of size, speed, strength and skill, that’s why his ‘Alien’ nickname makes sense.

Heading into Saturday’s game, he had appeared in 41 games this season, averaging a little over 28 minutes per game. He averaged 24.2 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.7 assists while splitting 51 percent shooting from the field, 36.1 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 81.2 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Over the weekend, the NBA All-Star Saturday Night festivities bizarrely took place in the afternoon, with the Slam Dunk Contest being the major event of the day. Miami Heat forward Keshad Johnson won the competition, although many fans were wondering why Chicago Bulls guard Mac McClung was not in the competition.

McClung has won the last three Slam Dunk Contests, and although he hasn’t been able to consistently carve out a spot for himself on an NBA team, he’s been with the Bulls for the past few weeks, which means he had every reason to be there in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Recently, according to Chaz NBA on YouTube, McClung showed off some of the dunks he would go with if he was selected to defend his title at the event.

Obviously, McClung still has every bit of the athleticism needed to win the event, but fans in Los Angeles had to be satisfied with bizarre dunks from Johnson, Jace Richardson, Jackson Hayes and Carter Bryant all night.

The dunk contest and the perceived decline in quality of the NBA All-Star weekend as a whole have come under some heavy criticism in recent years, with many fans lamenting the fact that big-name players often refuse to participate in the event these days.

Two years ago, Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown changed that by participating in the competition, but that didn’t stop more criticism from coming the NBA’s way.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the league will be fully hopeful that the All-Star Game players will make some kind of effort after years of playing a boring middle school recess game that is a stark contrast to the performances of the best basketball players on the planet.

Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 pm ET from Los Angeles.

Taco Fall served up an unreal dunk highlight during the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game on Friday night.

Fall represented Team Giannis throughout the competition, with Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo serving as an honorary coach. On the roster, he includes actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key, actor Rome Flynn, Chinese actor and singer Dylan Wang, NBA insider Shams Charania, social media creator and basketball personality Jenna Bandy, Charlotte Hornets co-chairman and governor Rick Schnall, former NBA champion Jeremy Lin, rapper Glorilla, Brazilian soccer legend Cafu and Detroit Lions star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. Worked together.

Fall played three seasons in the NBA from 2019 to 2022, representing the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers over that span. He appeared in 37 career games, averaging 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per contest. He shot 67.3% from the field and 32% from the free-throw line.

Fall got a chance to enjoy throughout the festival. He produced several highlights in the game, including this neat reverse dunk in the first quarter.

Point guard Tacko Fall threw a reverse dunk 😮‍💨🔥

pic.twitter.com/9IDyAKbfC3

– ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) 14 February 2026

How Taco Fall played in the celebrity game

Taco Fall is dominated by the annual gathering of celebrities from sports, music and other forms of entertainment. He finished with a stat line of 20 points, 21 rebounds and five blocks.

Rome Flynn won the Most Valuable Player award at the 2026 Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game on Friday. He scored 17 points and added 4 assists for Team Giannis in a 65–58 win over Team Anthony.

Jeremy Lin (12 points, 15 rebounds) hit a key 8-point shot at the end of the fourth quarter, putting Team Giannis in a strong position. Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen scored a team-high 18 points for Team Anthony. Meanwhile, Adrian Nunez contributed 13 points in support.

LOS ANGELES – For the first time since 2019-20, the Los Angeles Lakers have a participant for the Slam Dunk Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in the form of big man Jackson Hayes. Dwight Howard competed in the championship for the last time in his lone season with the Lakers. Howard did not advance to the final round that season, with Derrick Jones Jr. taking home the hardware.

Jackson Hayes is the sixth Lakers player to be selected for the Slam Dunk Contest, but only Kobe Bryant has won the marquee event of NBA All-Star Saturday Night. Hayes is now attempting to become the second player in franchise history to bring home the trophy.

Over the past few seasons, the Slam Dunk Contest has come under increased scrutiny from fans, media, and players alike, and the contest has lost some of its luster compared to previous years. But for Hayes, he’s just trying to go out there and have fun, and try to bring excitement back to the competition.

“I want to bring as much fun and life back to this competition,” Hayes said during his media availability session. “Me and the guys were talking about it, we just want to make it a show. Just try to bring the dunk contest back in the best way possible, just go all out and have fun, and make it entertaining for people to watch.”

Hayes has wowed fans with some impressive dunks in games this season. He is good for Luka Doncic in almost every game. But the one that stood out so far this season was his Eastbay dunk, which he threw down during the Lakers’ win against the Chicago Bulls on January 26.

The inspiration for that dunk came when Hayes’ Lakers teammates made fun of him for throwing an ambiguous dunk on a fastbreak.

Hayes said, “At the beginning of the game my teammates were making fun of me. I had a fastbreak and I just did a simple two-handed dunk. Not hanging on the rim or anything, just dropping it in.” “Everyone was teasing me, they were all messing with me. I got a steal late in the game and I was just remembering the guys who were teasing me earlier and making fun of me, so I was like, ‘Okay I’ll do something.’

As far as Hayes’ production for the Lakers, he has been one of the team’s most consistent players this season with his energy and effort. He has appeared in 45 games, including seven starts, at a pace of just over 17 minutes per game. He is averaging 6.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists while shooting 77.2 percent from the field.