Aaron Gordon’s dunk contest has never ended

Aaron Gordon is still riding the momentum of his All-Star Weekend performance. The dunks are nice, but Gordon is coming into his own and finding his fit.

Aaron Gordon was the highlight of the weekend two weeks ago with his slam dunk contest performance. It still had the NBA world buzzing a week later and the Magic passed out posters of Gordon’s performance.

He was the “People’s Champion.” And the People’s Champion has to keep delivering.

And he has . . .

And on and on and on. This is becoming commonplace when it comes to Aaron Gordon. He is coming for the rim and it is best for defenders to get out of the poster — or try to slap him across the head as Jose Calderon did on a flagrant foul that helped the Magic to a five-point possession as Gordon made three of his four free throws in the situation.

Gordon just makes plays. Often plays everyone wants to Vine or tweet. He has become a must watch for the Magic. A reason to tune in for every game.

That is the national perspective on Gordon. His emergence on a national stage at All-Star Weekend has shined a light on his play with the Orlando Magic. Could he actually play.

He continues to show that, in a rudimentary way, yes he can. And it was proven again in a 17-point effort against the New York Knicks on Friday, one of the few bright spots in a game that was an overall stinker as far as effort.

Perhaps it was that lack of energy from everyone else that made Gordon all the more noticeable. He had four offensive rebounds and four of his six makes came off dunks.

Gordon’s offensive game is still extremely limited. He makes a 3-pointer every so often — he is shooting 29.9 percent from beyond the arc — and he is not a big creator off the dribble. Almost all of his offensive game comes from cutting to through the lane, although he has expanded and begun showing an ability to drive and finish around the rim.

And that is fine for Gordon. His game has not grown quite to the level where he is creating offense for himself. He can rely on others and his energy. The Magic have a lot of guys who use up shots anyway. Gordon’s relatively low 16.7 percent usage rate and work on the offensive glass are more needed with this group.

Of late, Gordon has found his role. The last two games, he scored a career-high-tying 19 points in the loss to the Golden State Warriors with much the same way he was scoring Friday.

Judging by how the Magic played, they need every bit of energy they could get.

At some point Gordon will have to grow and become a bit more. The Magic clearly value him pretty highly. And a high-flying dunker alone does not make a good basketball player.

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For now, energy is what he brings. Everyone can gawk at the dunking, but there is actual growth occurring. The Magic are seeing and trusting Gordon more on offense to fill a role and help the team win.

Orlando is better with Gordon in the game — he has a 1.7 box plus-minus according to Basketball-Reference, meaning the Magic play 1.7 points per 100 possessions better with Gordon on the floor over a replacement player. For his second year in the league and all the injuries he has had to deal with, that means he is making the growth the team wants to see.

His role will grow as he continues to improve. And that improvement will come.

Until then, we can just gawk at his athleticism.