A side quest in Borderlands 4 might seem completely random to some who stumble upon it. But for folks who played Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, it’ll all make sense. A decade after that game’s launch, the biggest and wildest slam dunk in history has been finished.
In 2014’s Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, during the side quest “Boomshakalaka,” players encounter a superstar basketball player named Dunks Watson. After helping him get his basketball back and killing some raiders, Dunks takes the ball and goes for a massive dunk. However, The Pre-Sequel takes place on Pandora’s moon, Elpis, and it has far lower gravity than the planet. So once he shoots up into the air, he never comes down and instead just flies away into space, screaming “BASKETBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!”
And that was the end of Dunks Watson, aside from a tiny Easter egg in Borderlands 3, where players can see him frozen in space with the ball. But now he’s back to finish that dunk.
In Borderlands 4, players can find a side quest named “And Welcome To The Jam” which involves a person claiming that there is someone above in the sky. After turning on a machine to bring the person back to the ground, I realized who I was making contact with: Dunks Watson. After 11 years and two games, he finally finished his big, intergalactic slam dunk.
After he lands, a reporter asks him how he feels upon completing such a grand accomplishment. After giving a short answer, Dunks then looks at the player and says, “And now… it’s time to go,” and then just dematerializes out of existence. It’s an odd ending to a side quest that was included simply as some fan service for Pre-Sequel lovers, and I’m here for it.
I enjoyed Pre-Sequel a lot. I think the low-grav combat was fun, and the playable characters (which included Claptrap) were some of the best in all of Borderlands. Athena forever, folks. So any time the franchise acknowledges the spin-off, I get very happy. And if you hated Pre-Sequel and Dunks Watson, well, good news, he’s gone forever now. So we all win. Except Dunks Watson. Who is gone now. Forever.