David Stern was in a damn good mood today.
So good, that he decided dinner tonight deserved a bottle of red—something expensive.
And why not? As the NBA commissioner, he had just gotten a gift from the basketball gods.
A few hours earlier, ESPN's Cray Speeder—whose name matched his reporting style—dropped a headline that had NBA Twitter buzzing:
Knicks' Lin Yi Confirms: He's Entering the 2010 NBA Dunk Contest.
Boom.
Even better? Lin Yi backed it up himself right after.
"Yeah, I'm in. I've loved dunking since I was a kid— The dunk contest is something I want to tick off my bucket list," Lin said in a post-practice interview.
The moment the news broke, Lin's fans went nuts.
Entering the dunk contest?
Everyone was all-in—hands, feet, hearts, and hashtags..
Then came the highlight reel. Speeder clipped together Lin's top slams and dropped it on YouTube. It exploded—over a million views in no time.
Online Comments Blew Up:
Big Brain:
I'm dying to see what a 7-footer like Lin can pull off. Let's gooo!
2K God:
Honestly, the dunk contest's been trash lately. Dwight's stuff was more comedy than dunking, Lin could bring something fresh.
LeBronTHEGOAT:
As a LeBron fan, I'm still hoping he finally enters. But hey, Lin being in? That's already a W.
Dog_lover:
There's something so smooth about the way Lin dunks. Not like a typical big man—dude floats.
Anarchist786348:
Ugh, jealous of Knicks fans. Imagine if the Clippers still had him. They gotta be crying in the bathroom.
With the inter on fire, even Lin's haters didn't know how to respond.
What are you gonna say?
"His dunks aren't good"?
Pfft, Bro, open your eyes.
The dunk contest was declining—and honestly, given how weak the past few years had been, they had to admit: if Lin brought even one original idea, he might just run away with it.
So the haters shut up—for now. Quietly waiting for the moment, he slipped up.
...
Back at league headquarters, Stern turned to Adam Silver with a rare grin.
"Adam, this kid... he just gets it."
Silver nodded. "Yeah, Sir. The dunk contest needs this. Fans are dying for another real showdown—like MJ vs. 'Nique, or Vince vs. Franchise."
Stern sighed. He'd been trying for years to get stars back into the dunk contest.
Even LeBron. Especially LeBron.
But every year, LeBron dodged it. "Maybe next year," he'd say… every year.
Fans used to believe it. Now? Not so much.
Stern couldn't help thinking Lin Yi might be heaven-sent—his answer to the dunk contest drought.
Because every February, the hype machine would crank up…
And every February, the letdown was just as loud.
In Lin Yi's memory, people used to say Nate Robinson only won because the league wanted to hype his size.
But really, it was because the contests around then were that weak.
Sure, Nate had bounce and a big personality, and at 5'9
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