LEWES, Del. - Slam Dunk to the Beach, the annual gathering of elite high school basketball players and teams at Cape Henlopen High School during Christmas break, will not take place in 2024. Slam Dunk to the Beach organizers from the Delaware Sports Commission announced what they are calling "a temporary hiatus" on Friday.
"As the elite high school basketball landscape continues to evolve, we thought it would be prudent to take a step back and evaluate how best to continue supporting and promoting the event moving into the future," stated Dr. Matthew Robinson, chairman of the sports commission. "When we relaunched the event in 2014 we made two important promises: one, to offer the highest quality of high school basketball for our fans, and two, we wanted to be fiscally responsible in that we would pay our vendors and meet our obligations to our sponsors."
"I feel for the past 10 years we have lived up to those promises. The changing landscape will make it a challenge to continue fulfilling those promises," Robinson continued.
Over the years, the Slam Dunk tournament has showcased generations of young athletes who have gone on to create names for themselves and excel at the elite levels of college basketball and the NBA. Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, Mo Bamba and Donte DiVincenzo are just a few past participants who have gone through the Cape Henlopen High School gym since the first Slam Dunk tournament over 20 years ago.
The Delaware Sports Commission and Slam Dunk to the Beach say they're on "sound financial footing" and that this temporary break will allow the commission to assess and explore new approaches in order to decide how to move forward.
