Lakers: Draymond Green hits back at LeBron James Dunk Contest hate

Draymond is going to bat for LeBron once again.

The Los Angeles Lakers opened up the second act of their 2023-24 NBA season with a road loss to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night, playing without the services of superstar LeBron James, who was injured for the contest. When on the court, James has been playing at an elite level in recent weeks, helping lead the Lakers back into contention in the Western Conference playoff picture.

Recently, LeBron James found himself the subject of criticism from NBA insider Stephen A. Smith of ESPN, who took to First Take to blame James’ lack of participation in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest over the years for the reason that the event has become such a pathetic product in recent seasons.

Now, Golden State Warriors power forward and frequent LeBron James defender Draymond Green has taken to his own The Draymond Green Show podcast to once again go to bat for his longtime adversary.

“[This guy] who did not participate in the Dunk Contest single-handedly killed [it]… When LeBron James would have been in [it], which was like 20 years ago… There has been several great Dunk Contests since,” said Green, via ClutchPoints on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.

The Dunk Contest overall has gone steadily downhill over the years since star players used to participate in it in previous eras. While the Lakers’ version of LeBron James isn’t the athlete of the Cleveland Cavaliers or Miami Heat James, the Kid from Akron definitely still possesses the star power to turn that event’s publicity around.