The NBA Sprite Slam Dunk Contest hit an all-time low tonight. And to think I actually had any sort of expectations.

Everything about it was horrible beginning with the painfully forced emphasis on creativity. There were about three good dunks out of the 12 and the best ones didn’t even come on the first attempt.

It’s pretty obvious how now we need stars in this competition now. It’s all up to LeBron James really. He has the chance to save the dunk contest by competing in it next year. But just like he decided not to go play in New York and save the Knicks, he probably won’t due this either.

Utah Jazz benchwarmer Jeremy Evans won the contest with 29 percent of the popular vote. Out of four guys 25 percent would have been a tie so at least it was one of the closest dunk contests in history.

The silver lining was the performance by the TNT crew and Charles Barkley in particular. They were great and provided some laugh out loud moments. They knew it was terrible and Barkley didn’t hold back and was honest as usual.

The three-point contest is really the only decent thing left and I’m sure a lot of people are burnt out on that too. It always seems to provide some drama though and basketball junkies have to love seeing great shooters go through that drill.

Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant had a chance in the three-point contest but fell just short losing to Kevin Love in the finals. The greatest possible outcome of the night would have been is Durant just went stupid in the three-point contest and hit like 25.

Excitement was not in the cards tonight though.

Until the best players start competing in the dunk contest and take pride in winning it, the contest will continue to die and rightfully so.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

It’s All-Star Saturday Night tonight and that means it’s time for the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest and Taco Bell Skills Challenge.

Last year the Thunder had one player participating in each with Serge Ibaka in the dunk contest, Kevin Durant in the three-point shootout and Russell Westbrook in the skills challenge. This year Durant and Westbrook will be back but not Ibaka.

Durant is only in the three-point contest because he is replacing Joe Johnson who originally was selected over him. Last year Durant did not fare well finishing last with only seven points. Durant should be more motivated tonight and his shooting stroke is made for the competition.

James Jones is the defending champ and will be Durant’s toughest competition. Ryan Anderson is the hometown favorite in Orlando. Anthony Morrow is the guy who can get hotter than anyone else and had a 40-point game earlier this season in which he hit eight threes.

The dunk contest will not consist of any stars this year which has been a common trend in recent history. Aside from Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin there haven’t been any big named players taking part in the contest.

Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

The dunk contest has definitely lost its’ luster but should be interesting nonetheless. There will be only one round this year with the winner being determined entirely by the fans’ vote.

Derrick Williams, Chase Budinger, Paul George and Jeremy Evans will compete. Evans is replacing the original selection of Iman Shumpert. Each contestant will hopefully bring something unique to the competition.

Williams is known for his gorilla slams and his dunks are always clean and look nice when they go down. Budinger could be the creative one this year and has an advantage in being a sneaky, good jumper. George has some Dominque Wilkins dunks in his arsenal and already displayed one in a game earlier this year. Evans is the guy no one really knows about but apparently jumps out of the gym more so than anyone else in the contest.

With there being no one who should steal the popular vote I feel Evans might be the favorite despite being the alternate selection. The anecdotes about his hops from practices and the few minutes he’s seen in games seem to trump anything any of the other players are bringing to the floor.

It’s just always so hard not to imagine what the dunk contest could be if LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Durant were in it. The biggest complaint about the contest now is that we’ve seen every dunk before. That wouldn’t matter if this star power was in it because we’d care more about the players and not the dunks.

All of the competitions will begin tonight at 8:30 P.M. EST on TNT.