Gerald Green a Favorite to Win Dunk Contest

On Thursday, the NBA announced that Gerald Green, who we know has stupid hops, will compete in this year’s dunk contest during All-Star Weekend. Earlier in the night, his teammate Paul George will vie for the three-point title, and while few expect George to win, Green is a favorite to take home the dunk crown.

As of yesterday, according to sports book Bovado, only James White is more likely to win than Green.

Odds to Win Dunk Contest   
James White (NYK)                     5/4
Gerald Green (IND)                     5/2
Terrence Ross (TOR)                  7/2
Jeremy Evans (SEA)                    5/1
Eric Bledsoe (LAC)                      15/2
Kenneth Faried (DEN)              15/2

Odds to Win Three-Point Contest
Stephen Curry (GS)                     2/1
Steve Novak (NYK)                     5/2
Kyrie Irving (CLE)                       3/1
Matt Bonner (SA)                        9/2
Ryan Anderson (NO)                 9/2
Paul George (IND)                     15/2

Generally, I don’t think many players should even attempt to re-enter the dunk contest after they have already done it. Even with a guy who can jump like Paul George, what is he really going to be able to do that will impress the world? Given that the league has been doing this event for 30 years now, it’s hard enough to even come up with a few nifty dunks in your first go-around.

Green, however, is an exception in every meaning of the world.

He has already competed twice, winning while a member of the Boston Celtics in 2007 in Las Vegas then coming up short in his title defense the following year in New Orleans as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves. (Dwight Howard won with his Superman routine). But I imagine he has a few more tricks in store.

Also, oddly, Green might be able to jump higher now than he could back then.

I wrote my thoughts about it earlier in the season.

"The strangest thing about his ability to rise is that it seems to be improving. He’s like the Benjamin Button of hops. I mean, he could absolutely sky in his Boston days and he did blow out that birthday candle, but it wasn’t until he started doing stuff like this in New Jersey that he became the undisputed best leaper in the NBA. And now? It just seems to be getting sillier and sillier by the day.Seriously, who jumps higher when they’re 26 than they did when they were 22?"

Then again, I’m not sure anybody can beat James White.

Trey Kerby of The Basketball Jones recently summed up most people’s opinion on the matter.

White and Green did have quite the showdown in 2010 during a dunk contest in Russia (see video below), so Gerald is maybe the one guy who stands a chance, but White is even less of a human being than Green is. The dude can straight fly, and he has said that he will bust out a move that has never been seen before in the NBA dunk contest.

Odds are he will do a through-the-legs dunk from the free-throw line, which should win it no matter what Green does.