CLEVELAND — So far, Shaquille O’Neal’s proposal for a superstar dunk contest to raise money for Haiti hasn’t left the ground.
On Tuesday night, O’Neal suggested that he would love to see his Cleveland Cavaliers teammate LeBron James take part in the NBA’s all-star dunk contest next month in Dallas, but only if former champions Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant and another unnamed star also joined the field.
O’Neal said he wanted a large prize, with half of the money going to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Carter, who won the contest in 2000, declined the offer and said Orlando Magic teammate Dwight Howard could do it.
Miami’s Dwyane Wade heard about O’Neal’s idea and supports the effort to raise more money — he has already donated a one-game check of about $175,000 — but won’t dunk, either.
Only defending dunk champion Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks was behind O’Neal’s plan.
“That seems like an awesome idea to me,” Robinson said. “For Shaq to say something like that, that’d be pretty cool.”
The league announced Shannon Brown of the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace and Robinson would take part in this year’s dunk event.
The fourth spot in the field will be determined in a dunk off between Toronto Raptors rookie DeMar DeRozan and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Eric Gordon.
