Getty Obi Toppin came home with some hardware.
The New York Knicks haven’t had much to celebrate this season, so it’s only fitting that Obi Toppin went out and won the dunk contest.
There was a lot of chatter this year about whether it’s time to change up the format, and that’s a discussion after every event it seems like, but nobody told Toppin that as he pulled off a never-before-seen dunk to win the whole contest.
His game-winner included a dunk that he hit off the backboard, something that couldn’t really be appreciated unless watched in slow motion. It might’ve been less impressive looking to fans because of how easy the Knicks’ high-flyer made it all look.
2022 SLAM DUNK CHAMPION OBI TOPPIN
His first dunk was also something that seemed to fly under the radar because the degree of difficulty appears to be very high there as well.
For that dunk, he went behind the back while jumping over somebody for the slam.
The degree of difficulty here is HIGH for Obi Toppin!
#ATTSlamDunk on TNT
Toppin has a lot of fans thanks to his dunks, so he was certainly a favorite going into the event, and there was perhaps no bigger cheerleader than fellow Knick Mitchell Robinson.
Robinson Sends Support
“If they give you anything lower than that they don’t like you because you play for the Knicks Obi”: Mitchell Robinson wanted the dunk contest judges to give Obi Toppin a 50.
Posting on his Instagram story, Robinson showed that he was supporting Toppin from afar, and rooting for him the entire time. He even joked that if Toppin doesn’t get a perfect score, it’s because the judges don’t like the Knicks.
After Toppin came home with the prize, the Knicks center also tweeted out his praise for the world to see.
“Bruh I’m so happy for Obi Toppin,” he said. “Well deserved my boy.”
There was some controversy earlier in the event when fellow participant Cole Anthony busted out a New York Knicks Greg Anthony jersey, perhaps upstaging current Knick Obi Toppin for a bit.
The elder Anthony played the first four years of his career with the Knicks, and it was all in good fun.
The real discussion happened almost immediately after the event concluded and it was about the dunk contest as a whole.
Should There Be Changes?
Obi Toppin wins the 2022 Dunk Contest with a few dunks never done in event history.
Gets immediately asked if he thinks the contest should be the 2nd to last event of the night because it was “anticlimactic.”
After Toppin came away with the trophy, he was immediately asked if he thinks the order of the competition should be flipped, and instead of ending the night with the dunk contest, would the three-point contest be a better conclusion?
It’s a fair discussion, and considering how long it can take a player to throw down their dunk, it does lose a bit of steam if players keep on missing. Toppin was able to get his dunks done with relative quickness, but Houston Rockets rookie Jalen Green really slowed things down during his turn.
As for the three-point shootout, there’s no creativity that has to be done there and it’s just the league’s best shooters trying to hit the most shots as possible. Kevin Durant even joked about it.
Me after a basic one hand
When it comes to the dunk contest, we get to see some of the best dunkers in the league, but most of them aren’t household names. Players the caliber of Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins or Vince Carter don’t seem to sign up for the event like they used to.
Man @ZachLaVine and @Double0AG yall messed it up for the rest of us 😂😂
LeBron James has never been a participant, Anthony Edwards turned it down, and it seems like Ja Morant doesn’t have much interest in competing, so the result is highly talented, but lesser-known players. Whether that’s the problem is another question entirely, but when the three-point contest can get Trae Young, Karl Anthony-Towns and CJ McCollum to compete, there’s a question worth asking.
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