Aaron Gordon’s drone assisted slam dunk makes history

Aaron Gordon’s slam dunk during the Slam Dunk Contest on All-Star Saturday gets an assist from a drone after a few do-overs.

It was a great concept that proves that Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic is nothing if not creative. When it came time for Gordon’s first dunk in the 2017 Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend, Gordon had an assist from an unlikely source: a drone.

It’s no wonder that Gordon went with such a unique delivery; Gordon had a lot to make up for after finishing as the runner up in the 2016 Slam Dunk Contest, losing the title in a dunk-off to Zach LaVine.

With the iconic Star Wars soundtrack blasting throughout the Smoothie King Center and fog coming from the drone’s “nest,” a drone carrying a basketball emerged from the top of the arena with Gordon on the floor at the controls. Gordon guided the drone near the rim for his first attempt. The drone dropped the ball as Gordon ran to the net, but his timing was way off and he missed the shot.

The second attempt got the ball to the rim but it bounced off the front, leading the commentators to talk about Gordon’s foot injury as a possible explanation for being off tonight.

They gave him major props for the idea, but clearly he needed to work out the execution. The third shot wasn’t any better as the drone dropped the ball and Gordon once again tried to get the ball between his legs and missed.

Then, finally, the fourth attempt finally worked out for him and he made the shot, but despite the history-making dunk, Gordon was rewarded with the lowest score of the first attempt with a 38.

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Gordon trailed behind Glenn Robinson III (first place, 50 points), Derrick Jones Jr. (second place, 45 points) and DeAndre Jordan (third place, 41 points) after the first dunk. All four would get one more shot before the top two moved into the final round.