LaVine exits All-Star stage for Kobe and the NBA’s best

TORONTO (AP) — Zach LaVine called it the best dunk contest ever, a showdown with Aaron Gordon that rivaled what Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins did.

Maybe they will come back next year and do it again. In fact, Gordon says, if the league wants him to go to Charlotte, “I probably will.”

For now, it’s time to turn the attention at All-Star weekend back where it was at the start: Kobe Bryant and the rest of the NBA’s best.

The All-Star Game tips off Sunday night, when the crowd might still be buzzing over the performances LaVine and Gordon put on to cap off All-Star Saturday.

LaVine finally won after extra dunks were needed, joining Jordan, Jason Richardson and Nate Robinson as the only back-to-back winners of the dunk title.