SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 Sports) - The NBA announced today that Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans will defend his title in the 2013 Sprite Slam Dunk on February 16 at Toyota Center in Houston during NBA All-Star weekend. The Slam Dunk airs live on TNT at 6 p.m. MT as part of the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night.
“It is very exciting to have the opportunity to participate, not just for the first time, but to be able to go back for a second time,” said Jeremy Evans. “I want to top what I did last year and come out and try to win it again.”
The first Jazz player ever selected NBA Slam Dunk champion, Evans aims to repeat his success in the 2013 Sprite Slam Dunk. Evans received 29 percent of the more than four million fan votes cast worldwide en route to his victory during last year’s contest. February 29, 2012 was officially declared “Jeremy Evans Day” in Utah by Governor Gary R. Herbert in his honor.
Should the 6-9, 194 pound forward take home the 2013 Slam Dunk crown, he would become the sixth player in NBA history to win multiple Dunk titles, and would join the select group of Michael Jordan (1987, 1988), Jason Richardson (2002, 2003) and Nate Robinson (2009, 2010) as the only players to win the title in back-to-back years.
Nicknamed the “Human Pogo Stick,” Evans remains the sixth Jazz player in franchise history to be in the dunk contest and is only the third Jazz player to participate in the competition in consecutive years. Darrell Griffith (1984, 1985) and Blue Edwards (1990, 1991) are the only other players to have represented the Jazz in the dunk contest twice.
Evans will face five contenders in his quest for back-to-back championships including Gerald Green (Indiana Pacers), Terrence Ross (Toronto Raptors), James White (New York Knicks), Eric Bledsoe (Los Angeles Clippers) and Kenneth Faried (Denver Nuggets).
The six dunkers will compete in a two-round competition. The highest scoring competitor from the Eastern Conference and the highest scoring competitor from the Western Conference will advance to the Championship Round to compete head-to-head for the title. Fan voting will open at the beginning of the Championship Round.
