As long as the NBA has an All-Star Weekend, the centerpiece will be the Slam Dunk Contest. Anyone can hit a three. Anyone can take part in a skills competition. Anyone can play in a glorified pickup game (which, while I love the celebrity game and the All-Star Game, both are essentially pickup games).
Not everyone can dunk. Further, not everyone can bust out the creativity that we see in the Dunk Contest that makes it so entertaining. Even when a Dunk Contest is “bad,” we’re watching humans engage in feats of athleticism that only a select few can do successfully.
Plus there’s just something about the contest – the pageantry, the reactions, the fact that we are on the edge of our seats to watch one person do something that takes a split second, everything – that makes it feel huge. Every year, everything in the world of basketball stops for an hour or so on a random February Saturday because of the Dunk Contest.
It’s just the best. When you remember a moment from an All-Star Weekend, it usually comes from the Dunk Contest. We wanted to celebrate some of those moments by ranking the 10-best jams that we’ve seen in the competition since 2000, when we saw the single greatest Dunk Contest performance ever. We’ll get there eventually, but for now, let’s talk about the Seven Seconds or Less Suns.
10. Steve Nash Uses His Footy Skills To Set Up Amar’e … Twice
So the second dunk here was so cool in theory – Nash would rainbow the ball up to Stoudemire, who finished with an explosive dunk that sent everyone into a frenzy. If they converted this on their first try or two, the stadium probably would have collapsed in on itself. Unfortunately, it took a number of attempts and by the time they succeeded, everyone was kind of worn out and Nash and Stoudemire had kinda taken their foot off the gas.
But the first time the two linked up, man, that was something else. Stoudemire threw the ball off the backboard, which went to Nash, who hit it off of his head and into the arms of Amar’e. From there, the one-time Suns center did a 360 and finished with one hand.
There was a time when this was the most exciting guard and big man combination in the NBA. We saw it time and time again in games, but this contest was a reminder that no one was capable of highlights quite like Amar’e and Nash.
9. Blake Griffin Jumped Over A Car
There are so, so many people who like to go “Actually, Blake jumped over the hood of the car and not the top of the car so it’s not that impressive.” I do not get it, because this dunk was awesome. The pageantry about it was awesome. The fact that Kenny Smith acted as a hype man, a choir came out to sing “I Believe I Can Fly,” and Baron Davis was hiding inside of a car were awesome too.
Everyone wanted to see Griffin jump over the top of the car, which, ok, that’s fine. But discrediting what he did or saying it’s easy because he jumped over the hood instead of the top is kind of lame. We forget sometimes that the Dunk Contest is more about the hype in a lot of instances than the dunk (which, to be clear, this was a really good dunk). Give Blake some love, y’all. This was wonderful.
Total aside: was I the only one who forgot that Blake didn’t get a 50 for jumping over a car because it was fan voting? Never fan vote again, NBA.
8. JaVale McGee Slams Five Balls On Two Dunks
McGee’s career has become defined by the fact that he has occasional, um, lapses in concentration that earn him a spot on Inside the NBA at 2 a.m. during Shaqtin’ A Fool. We sometimes forget that early in his career, McGee was an athletic marvel who looked like he was going to become a uniquely skilled center.
His athleticism was on display with these two jams, and we’ll give him love for the totality of his performance. First was his two-hoop dunk, which can’t really be put into words because it was so unique. As Reggie Miller said, at the moment, no one else on the planet could pull something off that required the length and athleticism that this dunk needed.
In the same contest, McGee decided to take it to another level. He decided to replace the second hoop with a third ball and a teammate to throw him a lob. The dude’s hands just move so fast, to the point that the dunk doesn’t even look like it was difficult.
McGee is what he is at this point in his career, and he’s found a nice role for himself on the Warriors. While we’re a bit beyond his Dunk Contest days, they were still awesome.
7. Jason Richardson Throws It Off The Backboard, Goes Between The Legs
It was so hard picking which dunk from Richardson to include. Ultimately, this one won out over the time he did a East Bay Funk Dunk backwards off the bounce (which, still not sure this was the right decision because that was absurd).
In the annuls of Dunk Contest history, I feel like Richardson sometimes gets forgotten. This is a shame, because he was awesome. Richardson was a mix of power and athleticism that was reminiscent of what we saw out of Vince Carter in 2000. The difference was he won two championships compared to Vince’s one.
His off the backboard and between the legs jam just caused a wall of sound to rise up from those in attendance that never seemed to end. Kenny Smith called it the most incredible dunk that he had ever seen. It was just such a powerful dunk out of a player who had a prodigious blend of strength and athletic ability when he was in the air.
Towards the end of his career, Richardson was a journeyman who provided a veteran presence and the occasional solid game. Prior to that, he was one of the most ruthless dunkers of his era, especially when it came to the Dunk Contest.
6. Andre Iguodala Goes Off The Backboard From Behind The Rim Basket
Sixers fans are still mad that Iguodala didn’t win over Nate Robinson this year. In my opinion, they are right to be angry, because Iguodala killed it.
This dunk was especially ridiculous. Iguodala had to time his jump perfectly to make sure he did not hit his head, but he still had to look out, because he was still a few inches away from getting his dome rocked. From there, Iggy had to swing his arms around, because he got so high up that his wrists were going to smash into the backboard if he didn’t.
He finished with his back to the rim with his momentum pulling him away from the hoop. The whole thing is insane. Fast forward to today, and Iguodala is still using his otherworldly athleticism to wow us all even though he’s 33.
Oh, also: this dunk gets extra coolness points because Allen Iverson is involved. Allen Iverson rules.
5. Nate Robinson Skies Over Spud Webb
For the longest time, Spud Webb had the undisputed title of the best short dunker to ever live.
That was until Nate Robinson, on one night in 2006, decided to take the title from Webb in a poetic way. Robinson straight up dunked over Webb in the most literal sense possible. The whole thing ruled, from Nate going into the crowd and handing Spud his own jersey to the dunk itself in which Robinson grabbed a pass with one hand and completely clearing Webb.
Apologies to Philly fans, but this was a cooler dunk than Iguodala’s windmill. Iguodala should have won the contest this year on the totality of his performance, but on the best dunk, I’ll take this one. Don’t be mad at Nate anymore, Sixers fans.
4. Dwight Howard Is Superman
This is the hardest dunk to rank whenever something like this happens. The case against it is obvious: technically, it is not a dunk. Howard took off from too far away and threw it through the cylinder instead of dunking it. It’s an insane feat of athleticism and coordination, but it’s not a dunk.
At the same time, remember how you felt as you watched this. The second Howard laid down a strip of tape and was handed a red bunch of cloth, you knew he was on the verge of doing … well, something.
And then Jameer Nelson unfurled what ended up being Superman’s cape. A second later, Howard took off his jersey to show all of us that he was wearing a special Superman jersey. It was awesome. Everyone in the building stood up. Everyone in bars and living rooms around the country stood up. We knew we were on the verge of seeing something unforgettable, and Howard obliged us.
The arena exploded as the ball went through the rim. Someone who is good at their job decided to play the Superman music throughout the arena. It was captivating. No matter what Dwight Howard accomplishes in his NBA career, nothing will ever be as fun as the time he threw on a Superman cape and let us know that he may actually be from Krypton.
3. Zach LaVine, In General, Is Absurd
No one has put on better back-to-back performances in the contest than Zach LaVine. You can debate whether he should have beaten Aaron Gordon (who we’ll talk about in a sec) in 2016, but you cannot debate that LaVine put on shows both times he competed.
First, there was 2015. Literally on his first dunk, he made them play the theme song to Space Jam and put on a Michael Jordan Tune Squad jersey. He announced his arrival in as brash of a way as you can imagine, by going between the legs and nearly hitting his head on the rim.
The rest of the 2015 competition was basically “nothing that anyone did matter because LaVine walked on air.” LaVine went between his legs three times, and every time was a little bit different. The word for it may be “spellbinding.” I have no idea.
Once we found out that LaVine was going to compete in 2016, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that he would repeat. Gordon made that much more difficult of a job than originally thought, but the Timberwolves’ guard still wowed us all. Slow motion makes everything seem more epic than it was in real life, but as anyone who watched in 2016 will tell you, LaVine’s assault on the rim was unforgettable. He went between the legs from a step inside the free throw line on his last dunk! It was ridiculous.
His best dunk is either his Space Jam dunk, his second 2015 jam, the one to lead off the 2016 contest, or the one where he went between his legs from basically the free throw line. All of it is so unfathomable that picking one as the clear-cut best is difficult. Let’s just say it was the Space Jam one because, well, that was the first dunk he ever did in a Dunk Contest and it was awesome.
2. Aaron Gordon Goes Over A Mascot, Under His Legs
Sure, LaVine won in 2016, but for my money, this may be the most impressive individual Dunk Contest jam of all time.
The moment this happened, everyone lost their collective minds. While LaVine’s contests had a bunch of awesome dunks, you can argue it doesn’t have one that sticks out above the rest.
Gordon achieved this by jumping over a mascot, grabbing the basketball, going under his butt, and dunking. Draymond Green starting jumping around and running along the sidelines. Anthony Anderson just kind of stood there, dumbfounded by the sheer power, athleticism, and creativity that was on display. Both Kenny Smith and Jon Stewart declared that the contest was over, with Smith saying this was the first time he declared a Dunk Contest champion before the contest ended since Vince Carter in 2000. LaVine, in that moment, looked like he might have agreed with them.
Really, look at LaVine’s face. Watch as he – the reigning and defending champion who was universally considered the best dunker in the NBA – was dumbfounded by this.
While it’s a shame that we won’t get to see LaVine-Gordon II in 2017, the fact that Gordon will gun for his first title this year is going to be awesome. Even if he wins, I feel fairly confident in saying he won’t one-up this dunk, solely because how do you one-up this one?
1. Vince. 2000. Just All Of It.
Shaq’s face says it all.
You had to know this was No. 1, right? Carter’s performance in 2000 very well could be the greatest individual performance in the history of the contest. We wrote about it early this week. Picking one dunk is impossible (I guess I’d have to pick the 360 windmill as the best one because oh my god), so I’m just going to put the whole thing here. Aside from that, this is the final sentence for two reasons: 1. You can just read what we wrote earlier this week instead and, 2. This gives you more time to just watch Vince defy gravity.
Honorable Mentions:
- Josh Smith Flies Over Kenyon Martin
- Jeremy Evans Throws Down Two Balls Over Gordon Hayward
- Gerald Green Blew Out A Candle On A Cupcake
- Paul George Leapt Over Roy Hibbert, Who Is Super Tall
- Victor Oladipo does a 540
All of these were either incredible dunks that earned 50s or iconic dunks that didn’t get 50s but were still unforgettable. I recommend watching all of them because it’s one heck of a way to spend a few minutes. Actually, that goes for every video in this post.
