High-flying Trail Blazers rookie Shaedon Sharpe was the first name leaked as taking part in the All-Star Saturday Night Dunk Contest.
Now he has decided to pull out, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic, to be replaced by second-year Knicks center Jericho Sims.
Portland's high-flying rookie Shaedon Sharpe has dropped out of the Dunk Contest in order to focus on second half of Trail Blazers' season, sources said.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 8, 2023
Sims joins Houston's KJ Martin, New Orleans' Trey Murphy and G League's Mac McClung as the participants. https://t.co/3wqDaemsKI
Sims joins G-League fan favorite Mac McClung, the Houston Rockets’ KJ Martin, and the New Orleans Pelicans’ Trey Murphy.
Sims is incredibly athletic — he recorded the third-highest vertical leap in the history of the NBA Draft Combine. In games, he rolls and dunks. Hard. He’s also played an expanded, but still limited, role for Tom Thibodeau this season, getting into 43 games and averaging 3.8 points a night.
The Dunk Contest will headline All-Star Saturday night, Feb. 18, from the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. The event will be broadcast on TNT.
