Former Chicago Bulls: Dwyane Wade was a bad Dunk Contest judge

The short lived tenure of Dwyane Wade with the Chicago Bulls could be as forgettable as the judging at the Slam Dunk Contest on Feb. 15.

There’s a host of relevant former Chicago Bulls that took part in NBA All-Star Weekend in various roles and events. For the Chicago native and former one-year Bulls shooting guard Dwyane Wade, his role in All-Star Weekend came as a judge in the Slam Dunk Contest. D-Wade was on a panel of judges that also included a fellow former Bulls star, forward Scottie Pippen, rapper Common, WNBA star Candace Parker, and actor Chadwick Boseman.

While that list of judges includes a lot of big names in the city of Chicago, they didn’t do their best job at the end of the Slam Dunk Contest. According to the Washington Post, the dunk contest was “spoiled” by the bad and controversial calls from the judges at the end.

According to a report from Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the dunk contest judge panel apparently wanted the final round to end in a tie between Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon and Miami Heat guard Derrick Jones Jr. But D-Wade maybe went “off script” and allowed Jones Jr. to get the edge over Gordon when it was all said and done.

There was a crazy social media reaction that followed D-Wade when he gave Gordon a score of 9 on his final dunk of the contest. But he wasn’t the only judge that gave Gordon a 9 on his final dunk. Pippen and Boseman also gave Gordon a 9 to let Jones Jr get the final edge.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1229160671994097671

The final takeaway here for Wade on the judge panel for the Slam Dunk Contest is that he was one of the causes for a controversial ending. Managing to find a controversial end to an event like the Slam Dunk Contest in the first place is rather difficult, but two former Bulls players like Wade and Pippen were able to do so.

The other two participants in the Slam Dunk Contest included Pat Connaughton of the Milwaukee Bucks and Dwight Howard of the Los Angeles Lakers. But Gordon and Jones Jr. stole the show. Maybe the highlight of the night in terms of memorable dunks was Gordon dunking over the Boston Celtics rookie 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall.