Jaylen Brown was already heading to Indiana later this month to play in the NBA All-Star Game for the third time in his career.
But now it appears that the three-time Celtics All-Star could also be taking his talents to the Slam Dunk contest on All-Star Saturday night next weekend.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Brown is a "likely" participant in the Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star weekend, which will be held from Feb. 16-18 in Indianapolis.
While the official list of participants has yet to be released, Charania -- who initially reported Monday night that Brown was just "seriously considering" participating in the contest -- posted a list less than 24 hours later of the NBA's likely Slam Dunk Contest participants which included Brown along with Mac McClung (last year's winner), Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Heat and Knicks forward Jacob Toppin.
Sources: The NBA’s likely Slam Dunk Contest participants at All-Star Weekend:
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 6, 2024
Mac McClung, Jaylen Brown, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jacob Toppin.
🍿🍿🍿 pic.twitter.com/P474qRHULz
Brown, has never participated in the Slam Dunk Contest, despite being invited early on in his career, but had to turn it down due to injury. He would become only the fifth Celtic to take part in the contest, after Dee Brown (1991), Greg Minor (1996), Ricky Davis (2004), and Gerald Green (2007 and 2008).
The 27-year-old, who has had some high-flying moments throughout his career and in particular this season, shared his thoughts following a blowout win over the Kings nearly two months ago on possibly participating in this year's dunk contest if he were to get an invite.
"We'll see," Brown told reporters back in December of participating in a Slam Dunk Contest. "I haven't put any thought into it. Maybe if the people want it, enough people ask for it, we'll get it."As of now, I'm not really thinking about it. … "[Dunking is] just all instinct. That’s all it is. You kind of read and react as I see the parts kind of moving. Then the defense making the rotations, you kind of know where to go and when to go and kind of the game tells you what to do."
Brown is averaging 22.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game this season and would be the first All-Star to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest since Victor Oladipo in 2018. The last Celtic to win the event was Gerald Green in 2007 and before that was Dee Brown back in 1991.
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