Jaime Jaquez Jr. to compete in Dunk Contest. A rundown of Heat representation at All-Star Weekend

Miami Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. will be busy next week during All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis.

Not only has Jaquez been selected as one of 11 NBA rookies to participate in the Rising Stars event during All-Star Weekend, but he will also compete in this season’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

After taking part in the Rising Stars event on Feb. 16 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse (the Indiana Pacers’ home venue), Jaquez will be in the Slam Dunk Contest on Feb. 17 on All-Star Saturday Night at Lucas Oil Stadium (the Indiana Colts’ home venue).

Jaquez is one four participants going for the NBA’s Slam Dunk crown this year, along with Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics, Jacob Toppin of the New York Knicks and Mac McClung of the G League’s Osceola Magic. The field for the Slam Dunk Contest was announced Thursday, with McClung competing after winning winning the event last year.

Jaquez will be the fourth different Heat player in franchise history to take part in the Slam Dunk Contest, joining Billy Thompson (1990), Harold Miner (1993 and 1995), and Derrick Jones Jr. (2020). The short list of Heat participants who have won the event includes Miner, who claimed the dunk crown in 1993 and 1995, and Jones, who was the dunk champion in 2020.

Jaquez (6-6, 230 pounds), who tied for the sixth-highest max vertical leap at the 2023 NBA Draft Combine at 39 inches, has completed 22 dunks this season. The only players on the Heat’s roster who have more dunks than Jaquez this season are Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler.

“I don’t know, I guess people just haven’t really watched me play, honestly,” Jaquez said when asked by the Miami Herald in December whether he feels like his dunking ability surprised opponents early in his rookie season. “You ask anybody who played on my high school team, they’ll tell you all the things that I used to do in high school. If you go watch back some of my high school games at Camarillo High School, we would just throw lobs after the backboard to me like it was the Globetrotters.”

Jaquez has already won at least one such event in his life, beating Philadelphia 76ers forward KJ Martin and Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London in a 2019 dunk contest while in high school in California. Jaquez threw down a between-the-legs dunk, a 360-alley-oop dunk and jumped over two high school players for another dunk to win that competition.

Jaquez, who was selected by the Heat with the 18th overall pick in the 2023 draft after a four-year college career at UCLA, has been one of the NBA’s top rookies this season. He received the first two Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards this season before Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller took the honor for games played in January.

Along with Jaquez, the Heat will be represented by Adebayo at All-Star Weekend.

Adebayo is the Heat’s lone All-Star this season, earning his third NBA All-Star selection after coaches voted him in as an Eastern Conference reserve for the Feb. 18 showcase game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

The Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, will also be represented at All-Star Weekend by Cole Swider and Alondes Williams in the G League Up Next Game that will take place at the Indiana Convention Center on Feb. 18. Swider is signed by the Heat to a two-way deal and can’t sign with another NBA team, but Williams is eligible to sign with any NBA team despite playing for the Heat’s G League affiliate since he is not on an NBA contract.