2026 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Odds, Predictions, & Picks
The 2026 Slam Dunk Contest is almost here! NBA betting analyst, Nick Galaida, breaks down the odds, format, and rules and then gives his favorite betting pick before the event begins this Saturday as part of NBA All-Star Weekend.
2026 AT&T Slam Dunk Contest Odds
- Carter Bryant +180
- Jaxson Hayes +250
- Keshad Johnson +370
- Jase Richardson +500
The AT&T Slam Dunk contest is back as part of the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend festivities. All four participants will be making their first appearance in the event after reigning champion Mac McClung opted not to compete this year.
NBA All-Star Saturday Night is scheduled to tip off at 5:00 PM ET. The Slam Dunk Contest will be the third and final event of the evening.
- Date: Saturday, February 14, 2026
- Time: 5:00 PM ET
- TV: NBC, Peacock
- Location: Intuit Dome
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Slam Dunk Contest Format
The NBA has tweaked the format of many All-Star Saturday events over the years, but the Dunk Contest has remained largely unchanged since its inception in 1984. Outside of a few years of experimentation in the early 2010s, the format has remained consistent, with players evaluated by a panel of judges – 50 points being awarded for a perfect dunk.
However, one new caveat that was introduced last year is that one of the five judges will be an individual designated as the “NBAID Member Rep.” This judge will represent the fan vote, with viewers submitting a score for each dunk on the NBA App or NBA.com during the broadcast. The NBAID Member Rep score will be an average of all scores submitted by the NBAID members for the dunk.
This means that the fans now account for 20% of the voting process. The average of the five scores will be used to determine the score for an individual dunk.
Each participant will be given 90 seconds and will be limited to three attempts to complete a successful dunk for each of their opportunities during the competition. A “dunk attempt” is defined as “the player controlling the basketball while airborne and moving it toward the rim.” If a player makes a dunk, they will be scored on that dunk – they are not allowed to reattempt any additional dunks, even if they have not used all of their three attempts. If a player doesn’t complete a dunk on any of their three attempts, they will receive a score of 40 points.
Round 1
In the opening round of the Dunk Contest, each player will have two dunk attempts. Following each player’s first dunk attempt, the order for the second dunk attempt will be determined by the inverse order of scores from each player’s first dunk attempt. For example, the player with the lowest dunk score on their first dunk will go first for his second dunk attempt.
The two players with the highest combined scores from their two dunks in the opening round (Dunk #1 score + Dunk #2 score) will advance to the championship round of the contest. If two players finish the opening round with the same combined score, the judges will be asked to vote to advance one dunker to the final round.
Championship Round
In the final round, each participant will once again make two separate dunks.
Similar to the order determination from Round 1, the participant with the lowest total score from the opening round will dunk first in the championship round. The order of competition for the second dunk in the championship round will be determined by the inverse order of scores from the first dunk in the championship round. For example, the player who has the lower score on their first dunk attempt in the championship round will attempt their second dunk prior to the other player.
The dunker with the highest final-round score (Dunk #1 + Dunk #2) will be crowned the champion of the event.
Tiebreakers (If Necessary)
If both players finish the championship round with the same total score from their two dunks, there will be a “one-dunk dunk-off” to determine the sole winner. In the “dunk-off,” each participant will be limited to one attempt.
If there is a tie after the “dunk-off” round, the judges will vote for the winner of the competition. The dunker chosen by the most judges will win.
Introducing 2026 Participants
As has become the norm for the NBA’s annual Slam Dunk Contest, this year’s field features four relatively unknown commodities. Since DeAndre Jordan competed in the 2017 event, only 1 of 31 players participating in the Dunk Contest has been an active All-Star – Jaylen Brown in 2024.
This year, Jaxson Hayes is the most accomplished NBA player of the group, averaging 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds for the Lakers. Carter Bryant, the odds-on favorite to win on Saturday, is averaging only 3.4 points in fewer than 10 minutes per game for the Spurs. Keshad Johnson has played more than 6 minutes in a game for the Heat only once since December 15. Jase Richardson is averaging only 2.8 points in 12.5 minutes per game for Orlando in February.
Still, a lack of household names doesn’t necessarily mean that this year’s Dunk Contest will be a snooze fest.
Bryant and Richardson are both rookies who turned in impressive vertical leaps at the NBA Combine. Johnson had the highest vertical leap of any player at the 2024-2025 Draft Combine.
Hayes is the only questionable inclusion for 2026, though the league tends to invite at least one forward/center to the Dunk Contest each year. Hayes had an underwhelming 34.5-inch vertical leap prior to being drafted and would be a historical outlier at his size if he were to take home the trophy on Saturday.
2026 NBA Dunk Contest Prediction
In the last 10 years, there have been 17 players who have entered the Dunk Contest at 6’7’’ or taller – only 7 of them have advanced to the final round (41.2% advance rate), and only Obi Toppin has won the event as a big man (5.9% win rate). Even Toppin’s win was an outlier. He won on a layup after Juan Toscano-Anderson failed to make a dunk on any of his three attempts in the final round.
Meanwhile, 13 of the 22 players 6’6’’ or shorter to enter the Dunk Contest in the last decade have advanced to the final round (59.1% advance rate), with 9 of them taking home hardware (40.9% win rate).
It’s also worth noting that Mac McClung is the only participant to win the event listed at shorter than 6’3’’ since the current format was reintroduced in 2015.
Using those historical parameters, we are left with Bryant and Johnson as this year’s most likely winners. Bryant, the No. 14 overall pick in this past summer’s draft, has slightly more star power, which could be a better narrative for voters and fans. He’s priced as the favorite for a reason heading into All-Star Weekend.
- PICK: Carter Bryant (+180, FanDuel)
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