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[Saba Sports News] The NBA is shaking up the Slam Dunk Contest for All-Star Weekend with a notable change—bringing back fan voting, but with a twist.
Announced on Friday, the league revealed that fans with a free NBA ID can submit scores for each dunk, with the average of those scores counting as one of the five official ratings. The remaining four will still come from the traditional panel of judges.
Fan voting was previously used to decide the contest winner from 2008 to 2014 but was scrapped over a decade ago. However, controversial judging moments—like the infamous 2020 scoring debacle—have fueled calls for change. While this tweak might not fully revive the contest’s former glory, it’s a step toward re-engaging fans in an event that has lost some of its spark.
With a lackluster lineup announced for this year’s competition, the NBA still has work to do, but letting fans have a say—at least in part—could be a move in the right direction.