On a recent segment tied to NBC’s renewed NBA coverage, Anthony pointed directly at Zion Williamson and essentially issued a public challenge: stop letting the league remember you as a “what if,” and start forcing it to remember why the hype existed in the first place. In Anthony’s words, Williamson “should be in this slam dunk contest,” a platform Melo pitched as the cleanest, loudest way for Zion to “come back and put yourself back” where expectations originally placed him.
Carmelo Anthony challenges Zion Williamson to join the dunk contest
“Zion this is your time to come back and put yourself back where everybody wanted you to be at… Get these kids to look at Zion Williamson again” pic.twitter.com/nOo0ob8P2A
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) January 7, 2026
It’s easy to hear that and reduce it to the familiar annual lament: “save the dunk contest.” Melo has been on that wavelength for a while, arguing that All-Star Saturday should feel like prime time again and that stars, not fringe names, should be the ones taking the stage.
But his Zion push hits differently because it isn’t only about an event. It’s about the storyline of a career that has spent years oscillating between viral dominance and frustrating absences.
And that’s the part Anthony is banking on: the dunk contest isn’t just a trophy. It’s a megaphone.
Los Angeles is set to host NBA All-Star 2026 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, with the weekend running Feb. 13–15, 2026 and the All-Star Game on Feb. 15.
The dunk contest, as always, is the Saturday-night centerpiece. If you’re trying to reintroduce yourself to the broader NBA public, it’s hard to find a cleaner stage.
For Zion specifically, the timing is not abstract. New Orleans has been fighting uphill, and Williamson’s season has featured the same push-pull that has defined his NBA reality: when he’s on the floor, he can still look like a wrecking ball; when he’s not, the conversation around him fills the space.
His season-long production has remained in the All-Star neighborhood, at 22.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game this season.
That’s why Melo’s nudge lands with a little bite. The dunk contest would be a voluntary, high-visibility act that says: I’m here, I’m healthy enough, and I’m willing to put my body and my reputation into a one-night show. There’s no hiding in that. The contest is unforgiving in a way regular-season basketball often isn’t; it’s not about efficiency, or plus-minus, or getting to your left hand. It’s about committing to the moment and living with the replay forever.
Anthony also isn’t speaking into a vacuum. Williamson has already flirted with the idea publicly. In March 2024, he told ESPN he would do the dunk contest if he made the All-Star team, a conditional yes that signaled interest while keeping the stakes tied to selection.
Melo’s latest pitch strips away the fine print. It’s less “if” and more “it’s time.”
The subtext is branding, whether anyone wants to say that word out loud. Zion was a cultural event before he was an NBA player, high school clips that looked fake, Duke games that turned Tuesday nights into appointments, a league that positioned him as a face of the future. Melo’s argument is that the dunk contest can reconnect Zion to that original electricity, the version of him that made casual fans care.
