LeBron's been on a highly-publicized tear recently, where he's completed insane dunk after insane dunk in the layup line while dressed in full sweats to prove to everyone, we guess, that even though he's not going to compete in the dunk contest, he would win if he tried. Then when people took to Twitter to bash James for what could be perceived as somewhat of a nightly cocktease, he got mad and said he wouldn't dunk for us anymore. Layups only, until we atone for our sins. Last we checked, though, he's still dunking, and the world is a better place for it. Still, everyone wants to see him compete in the dunk contest, because the dunk contest kind of sucks, and everyone misses, and James's pregame dunks boast a high degree of difficulty and an uncannily-high success rate.
Some people want to see James in the contest so bad that hypothetically, they'd probably bribe the star with like a million bucks to partake. Magic Johnson is one of these people. In fact, the Lakers-legend-turned-ESPN-analyst said he's willing to cough up a million dollars to LeBron, or whoever can beat him next year.
"Please, LeBron, get in the dunk contest. I'm going to put up a million dollars," Johnson said on Friday. "A million dollars from Magic to LeBron. Please get in the dunk contest. I go every year. I want to see you out there. A million to the winner."
Even though James has never shown any real interest in competing before, the offer, as million-dollar offers tend to do, piqued his interest. The winner of the dunk contest wins $100,000, while the runner up wins $50,000.
"Tell him I'll get back to him," James told Lisa Salters today before the Miami Heat's win against the New York Knicks.
It'll be interesting to see what the repercussions will be if LeBron does decide to take part in the dunk contest at next year's All-Star Weekend. His participation and a million-dollar reward would likely attract other stars, as well. Of course, James's legion of critics will say that the three-time MVP is a soulless, self-important leech who is only doing it for the attention and reward although that's why everyone enters the dunk contest.