NBA star Aaron Gordon looks to app to stay Lucid

[The Ga[M]er.]

Aaron Gordon will become the center of the basketball universe when he steps on the court Saturday night for the NBA's annual slam dunk contest. Until then, he'll be turning to an app to get his mind right.

The third-year Orlando Magic forward, who's on the cusp of a breakout season, says a nearly year-old app called Lucid is helping make the difference with his game. Gordon is the odds-on favorite to win this year's throw-down, after losing the 2016 slam fest by just a few points in an epic battle.

The app was co-created by Gordon's mental coach, San Francisco-based sports psychologist Graham Betchart, and Jason Stirman, a Silicon Valley insider.

"I think 80 percent of the game is mental and the other 20 is physical," said Gordon, who's also an investor in the app. He said the mental exercises, like "Training Your Mental Core," help him cope with key moments during games. "You can't perform in pressure situations if you're not locked in and in tune with yourself."

It's not uncommon for pro athletes like Gordon to look for competitive advantages to improve their focus. Lucid is among more than a dozen mental-training apps, including Calm, Headspace and Peak Performance, that specialize in visualization, goal-setting and meditation that the apps makers say helps everyone from top athletes to office-workers succeed.