	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA ALL-STAR 2020

February 15, 2020

Zach LaVine

Chicago, Illinois

Q. On the Slam Dunk Contest:
ZACH LAVINE: If I wanted to enter, I would have entered. I don't have a lot more to prove in that area. I've won it a couple of times. If I would've made the game, I felt like I would've tried to do a lot more things over All-Star Weekend. But I'm focused on the 3-Point Contest. It's something a little different that I haven't done before. I think I have a chance to win.

Q. What's your favorite rack?
ZACH LAVINE: Favorite rack? I like the corners and the middle the best, obviously. I think those are the hot spots.

Q. Is there any bad blood between you and Aaron [Gordon]?
ZACH LAVINE: Bad blood? No, me and Aaron are cool. We always have been. We went through training together when we were going in as rookies. I always watch Aaron and respect his game. I know he's going to come with a show. If he's entering, he's going to come with some stuff that he thinks are 50, 50, 50, 50. I'm excited. I want to see what he has to bring.

Q. On Bulls fans expressing frustration during his national TV appearance on Friday:
ZACH LAVINE: I'm pretty good with the media and being able to move around that. I don't speak for the fans. Obviously, I think some fans in Chicago have been frustrated, but you guys know me personally. I'm with the team. I'm the one that puts on the uniform. I stay in front of the fans, and I do my job.

It wasn't tough. It gets rowdy. I know how Chicago gets rowdy too. So it is what it is.

Q. On his relationship with fans.
ZACH LAVINE: I appreciate the fans that stay loyal. Me personally, I appreciate all the fans that have come out and supported me and came out each and every game. I feel like I'm somebody that they can trust. I'm someone that puts the work in. I don't care if we're down 100, up 100. You guys get the same type of reaction from me, the same type of determination and ability to go out and win.

We are trying to win. You guys know me personally. I want to do nothing but win. So I just want to say thank you to them.

Q. What would it feel like to win the 3-Point Contest?
ZACH LAVINE: It would be great. There's not even a lot of guys that's competed in both contests. To be somebody that I feel like I have a chance to be able to win it, it's big. I take it serious.

Q. On the state of the Bulls.
ZACH LAVINE: There's negativity and positivity that's been going around the team for a long time. I think it's a little bit more magnified now because it's All-Star Weekend. That doesn't change who I am or what I do or what I stand for. Not just for me. I'm still Zach LaVine, and I play for the Bulls as well. So I've got to represent myself and them.

Q. Who would you most want to play against one-on-one?
ZACH LAVINE: Man, who would I want to play against in a one-on-one? I mean, there's a lot of great one-on-one guys. I consider myself one of them. I know somebody I wouldn't want to play against is Kevin Durant, I'll tell you that.

Q. The 3-Point Contest really takes a lot of leg strength. Have you done anything to prepare for that?
ZACH LAVINE: Yeah, so when I've been practicing, I've been going through the racks. Obviously, I've been timing it with a minute ten. I get through it pretty easily. I don't think leg strength has been something that's ever bugged me, being a big-time jumper. I've got a pretty easy shot as well. So I've got the rhythm down so far.

Q. But is it different than playing in a game and slam dunking and things like that?
ZACH LAVINE: Yeah, for sure. The first time I went through it, I looked at a couple of my friends, and the dude that was with me was Shawn Respert, I said, man, this is tiring. You're shooting 25 shots, 27 shots within a minute, so you get tired.

Q. Have you talked to any of the guys who have ever been in this contest before, like say Craig Hodges, who won it three times?
ZACH LAVINE: I haven't talked to them. But I was on a podcast with JJ Redick, and I was talking to him a little bit, and he said he had a harder time doing the contest because he's a straight-up jump shooter. He couldn't change how he was. So he gave me some tips.

Q. Are you frustrated with being left off the Team USA roster?
ZACH LAVINE: I think they went with the guys who've been a part of Team USA before. There were a lot of guys that were left off of that who were deserving, and that's their decision. I think I made my case for a lot of things to be on it, but I'm not the one picking it.

Am I frustrated? Am I disappointed? I wouldn't say frustrated. I think it's more just a little bit more fuel to the fire. But they have their reasons for picking their guys, and it is what it is. It's not going to stop what I do or what I represent.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297