Miami Heat Guy Was, Surely, Worthy Of This NBA All-Star Saturday Night

Shaquille O'Neal and Bill Walton are seen during the Taco Bell Skills Challenge as part of the 2022 All-Star Weekend(Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
Shaquille O'Neal and Bill Walton are seen during the Taco Bell Skills Challenge as part of the 2022 All-Star Weekend(Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

The Miami Heat will certainly have representation in Cleveland, Ohio this weekend for the NBA All-Star activities. Considering Coach Erik Spoelstra and Jimmy Butler‘s presence in the building, that checks a box.

However, after the events of the NBA All-Star Saturday Night, it was pretty clear that, at least, one more Miami Heat guy should’ve been there to participate in the weekend’s festivities.

After a decent three-point shooting contest, that did eventually see Karl-Anthony Town set a new contest record with 29 made shots in the final round, there were several guys in the first round that really had less than stellar showings.

Whether you take a guy like Duncan Robinson, Gabe Vincent, or Max Strus from the Miami Heat, one of those guys could’ve made more than the 14 shots that Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls did in the first round.

Fred VanVleet only put up a 16 himself. To be quite honest, heck, one of them could have even made more than the 18 put up by Desmond Bane or the 19 of CJ McCollum.

Again though, you did eventually get three amazing showings in the final round.

The Miami Heat are being represented in Cleveland, though not in the Saturday night games. With the way they went, there surely should have been though.

KAT put up his record-breaking performance, while Luke Kennard and Trae Young were hot on his trails in the final round, 26 points being put up by each of them.

While there can be debate there on the long-ranged shooters, the last event of the night was a total dud. The NBA Slam Dunk Contest has really been hit or miss for some time now.

To be honest, there were some ok dunks in this year’s contest, but none of them were so great that they absolutely blew you away.

Upon first hearing the contestants, you could’ve, perhaps, given the league a pass for not including the Miami Heat’s slam dunk artist, the one and only Caleb Martin (technically, as there is a dude who looks identical to him, but you get it), in the mix but not after what you witnessed on Saturday evening.

By the way, Martin is the same guy who has terrorized backend defenses all year long from the comfort of a two-way contract.

Though he signed a regular deal recently, primarily to be able to play in the playoffs, he may have been having the best NBA two-way year known to man before signing the standard deal. That includes quite a few poster-worthy stuffings this season.

Yea, that’s the guy that should have been in Cleveland to represent the boys of Biscayne. It’s water under the bridge now—and calm water based on the letdown that this year’s dunk contest was.

The new Skills Challenge seems like a winner though, if that means anything. To be fair, the deep shooting contest was good too, however, there are a few Miami Heat guys that could have put up bigger numbers.

Convincing otherwise is impossible. These were a few of the reasons why there should have been, at least, one Miami Heat guy competing on Saturday night though.