The annual discourse around “fixing the Dunk Contest” misses that it’s never needed stars. It used to create them, and maybe in some ways it still can.

Six-foot-two Mac McClung is a phenomenal leaper and a creative dunker. He's also a G-League player with minimal NBA experience.

What Carter did 25 years ago during a rain-soaked weekend in the Bay looked like, and felt like, the apogee of the competition.