Former NBA journeyman Steve Novak enjoyed a reasonably successful pro career, lasting in the league for a little over a decade. Novak, who occupied the role of “stretch four” before that term became popular, is best remembered for his three-point exploits with the vast majority of his field-goal attempts (77.9 percent) coming from long range. Though he obviously wasn’t known for his post prowess, over the course of 467 career games, you’d think the 6’10” Novak would have dunked at least a handful of times.
You’d be wrong. Not a high-flyer in the slightest, Novak, now 37, says he only thought about dunking on two occasions. He chickened out in both instances, instead settling for anticlimactic finger rolls. “I just took a little too much time getting down to the rim, and Larry Sanders, who was on the Bucks at the time, was trailing me like a bat out of hell,” recalled Novak, one of several players profiled for an entertaining Sports Illustrated feature on non-dunkers. “It kind of spooked me, so I rushed it, and, instead of getting my steps right, I just sort of finger-rolled that one.”
According to data compiled by Basketball Reference, of the 1,367 players to log at least 1,000 NBA minutes since 1996, all but 108 have dunked on at least one occasion. Nearly 211,000 regular-season dunks have occurred in that span, though Novak has not contributed to that total. Neither have San Antonio’s Patty Mills or Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, both of whom stand at 6’1.”
“I haven’t given that a try in a long time,” Mills admitted to Sports Illustrated’s Shaker Samman. “I feel like the more I wait, the less of a chance that I have.”
Novak insists he’s capable of dunking—his first in-game flush came as a middle schooler in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, a Milwaukee suburb. The 6’5” eighth-grader had successfully dunked in practice before, but Novak couldn’t muster the courage to try one in an actual game until his coach promised him a $20-gift card to a local ice cream shop. After that, it was game on.
“I’m like, ‘This has got to happen,’” said the former Knicks and Rockets forward. The NBA upped the ante with an even bigger reward in 2012, asking Novak to replace injured teammate J.R. Smith (who had already been tapped to replace Landry Fields) in that year’s Slam Dunk Contest. Despite the league dangling a $20,000 payday in front of him, Novak politely declined. Maybe they should have offered him soft serve in a waffle cone.
Novak never experienced the thrill of an NBA dunk, but he’s not alone in that camp. Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash never took flight while Pelicans vet JJ Redick, who ranks 15th all-time in three-pointers (1,928), has also spent his career below the rim. At least Novak was able to cash in on 16 layups before hanging up his Nikes in 2017.
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