It’s safe to say, after the events of Saturday night, the NBA Slam Dunk Contest is officially back. Thanks to the herculean efforts of Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine, the Dunk Contest has once again become the highlight of All-Star weekend.
Whether or not you think the 2016 version was the greatest of all-time (it totally was), you have to appreciate the fact that Gordon and LaVine put on a show of unbelievable creativity and athleticism. But as great as the two young studs were on Saturday night, do any of their dunks register as the best ever?
Now, thanks to YouTube user Rabit, you can judge for yourself. In one convenient supercut, he has put together every single “perfect” jam in contest history. From Julius Erving in 1984 to LaVine and Gordon on Saturday evening, there have been a total of 63 dunks from 28 unique individuals that have received a perfect score from the judges, and they’re all together in this mesmerizing video.
Check out the full, nearly hour-long version of it, if you’re into that sort of thing:
So, which dunker has had the most 50s of all time? That honor goes to the two-time defending champ LaVine who has had seven between the 2015 and 2016 events. Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, and Jason Richardson come in second place with five apiece, while Dwight Howard is next with four.
While the participants today are forced to be much more clever than their counterparts from the 1980s and ’90s, you have to remember that many of the perfect dunks from the early contests were something the fans had never seen before at that time.
Along with the bare bones version of just the dunks, if you really want to see the build up and full reaction to each perfect jam, Rabit also created a full 52-minute video featuring each perfect slam, so get your popcorn and settle in, as there aren’t many better ways to spend an hour of your time.
(Via Rabit)
