The 2000 NBA Slam Dunk contest will go down in history as not only the best the league has held, but also for how it was the night Vince Carter cemented himself with the basketball gods.
But according to this SLAM online article, it almost didn’t happen. Carter’s original driver didn’t show up, so he had to catch a ride there, luckily.
“There was so much controversy as far as us getting there,” Carter told SLAM. “Our driver that was supposed to take me there didn’t show up. So we had to bum a ride from [the hotel] in San Francisco to the arena in Oakland, and we got there late—Tracy [McGrady] and I.”
Another interesting part in the piece, was that Carter and cousin/former teammate Tracy McGrady at first practiced their dunks for a month, and on the night of the dunk contest, decided to do complete improvisation. Obviously, that gut feeling worked.
Carter had practiced his dunks for about a month prior to All-Star Weekend with McGrady, his cousin and teammate. But on the night of the contest, Carter decided to scrap everything they’d worked on. Instead, he dunked with pure instinct and in-the-moment creativity.
