All-Star Weekend: Aaron Gordon robbed in finals of Dunk Contest

Aaron Gordon put on perhaps the best show ever by an Orlando Magic dunk contestant, but he walked away without a trophy for it.

There were few who expected anyone to challenge Zach LaVine in the 2016 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest, but that is mostly because Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon represented the unknown to many.

LaVine wowed the crowd in 2015, and after the first dunk it looked like he would be on to do the same — perhaps with no real contest.

But Aaron Gordon was just getting going when he did his safest dunk first to get himself started.

To get him started on a night that would have us proclaiming this contest to be one of the best ever.

Creatively, Gordon used Stuff the mascot for three of his four attempts, the three most spectacular, as it was.

Gordon started with a simple formula: Jump over Stuff while dunking. It drew a near-perfect score (Shaquille O’Neal seemed to have it out for everyone with his ‘9s’). It began to awaken the crowd to the sleeping giant Gordon was after his less impressive first dunk in the contest.

Gordon followed that up in the third round with Stuff holding the ball on his hover board. But before running toward the hoop he gave a circle motion and Stuff began to spin.

Then Gordon took over with a one-handed windmill dunk, taking the ball from Stuff’s outstretched hand as he spun. It was a glorious display of athleticism and timing.

But Gordon had saved his best for last in regulation, which is impressive considering it came in a “dunk-off” to break the tie. Gordon jumped over Stuff again on the hover board but this time passed the ball under his outstretched legs, as though sitting in a chair.

It was the dunk of the night by many measures, inspiring crazed reaction and getting the crowd completely up. By then the arena was already buzzing, but these dunks just brought the house down.

Zach LaVine was up to the challenge at each turn. Both Gordon and LaVine put up perfect scores throughout the final round. LaVine had his bag of tricks going too, doing different dunks from the free throw line and implementing new tricks with each flight.

Both were dunking so effortlessly. Neither missed a dunk attempt, save for Gordon’s first try at jumping over Stuff in the first round. They were clearly the two best dunkers from the beginning.

To start the dunk-off round, Gordon asked Elfrid Payton for assistance and did a 180 over his head.

Gordon finally showed a crack on a dunk that still probably should have earned a 50.

He went up for a tomahawk dunk along the baseline, bringing the ball all the way behind his head before bringing it between his legs and dunking it.

Somehow, unfathomably so, the dunk did not earn a perfect score. It just did not look good until you saw it in slow motion. But in slow motion… oh man.

The poor score set the table for LaVine to win, perhaps unjustly so.

LaVine did another iteration of the free throw line dunk, this time jumping from a foot inside the line but passing the ball under his legs. It earned a perfect score and placed Gordon in second place.

Was Gordon robbed by LaVine’s hype and accompanying posse?

It would seem so.

But Gordon at least showed for one night the Magic might be worth tuning into.

Perhaps not even most Magic fans knew Gordon had those tricks up his sleeve. It might not be the last time we see Gordon in this event, as LaVine can now successfully hang his laurels on defending his crown.

Next: Aaron Gordon fulfills lifelong dream in Dunk Contest

Gordon said after the event he would love to return to the contest in Charlotte next year. Hopefully, we will see Gordon for an encore.