Best 5 NBA dunk contests ranked with Bill Trikos: The Slam Dunk Contest is one of the spectacles to watch during the NBA All-Star weekend. Throughout NBA history, we’ve seen the best dunkers in the league showcase their freakish athleticism in the annual dunking exhibition. From using cars, candles, and even grown men, dunkers have a lot of things at their disposal to show basketball fans the best dunk they have to offer. Although some dunk contests are forgettable, others will be remembered forever. For this piece, let’s rank the 10 best NBA Slam Dunk contests of all time. Find additional details about the author at Bill Trikos Australia.
That dunk was so spectacular and breath-taking that Jordan had the nerve to do it again in the final round against Wilkins. Unsurprisingly, he got a perfect score again and capped off one of the greatest dunk contests in the history of the league. Vince Carter is widely recognized as one of the greatest, if not the greatest dunker of all time. His poster in the Olympics is perhaps the best in-game dunk in basketball history, and he would’ve been at the top of this list if we were to judge individual performance alone.
Can an homage be better than the original? Just ask Michael Jordan, who channeled Julius Erving’s original artistry to defend his home turf at the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest. During the semifinal round, Jordan backed up toward the opposite baseline, dribbled inside the three-point arc and leaped from just inside the free-throw line to the basket, just as Dr. J had done four years earlier. The dunk was so spectacular that it earned Jordan a perfect 50 not only then but also when he busted it out to fend off Dominique Wilkins in an epic final.
Jordan took the Doctor’s advice and carried it out to perfection. The then-Chicago Bulls guard ran the length of his home floor at Chicago Stadium before flying from the free throw line to the rim for a one-handed dunk just like Dr. J. The contest-winning dunk produced one of the most iconic sports images with Jordan soaring through the air. Just when you thought Gordon and Stuff the Magic Dragon couldn’t do any better, they pulled this out of their sleeve. Stuff the Magic Dragon stood near the basket with the ball over its head. Gordon jumped over the mascot with his body facing away from the rim, grabbed the ball with his right hand, put it under his legs and dunked it with his left all in one fluid, mind-blowing motion. Gordon had two of the best dunks in event history in the same competition…and he still lost to LaVine.
That one earned Carter a perfect 50 from the judges and put him in the driver’s seat for his first and only Slam Dunk title. More than a decade later, Blake Griffin busted out the same move en route to his own dunk championship. The 2011 Slam Dunk Contest will forever be remembered as “that time Blake Griffin jumped over a Kia.” “He came prepared with the car,” JaVale McGee said, that year’s runner-up, per NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner, “and nothing’s going to beat the car unless I bring out a plane or something.”
Aaron Gordon under the legs over Stuff the Magic Dragon 2016: I could go on a rant about how absurd this dunk is and why it deserves more love. How many times have we seen a player “jump over” someone when really, the person being used as a prop is bending over to make themselves smaller than they are? The Magic’s mascot, Stuff the Magic Dragon, is reportedly 6 feet tall and he is standing upright. Gordon doesn’t just jump over him and dunk it — he takes a seat in mid-air as he grabs the ball from the mascot and finishes with authority (on the first try!) with his head above the rim. There were so many jaw-dropping dunks between Gordon and LaVine in 2016. This one was the best.
In truth, the tougher task for all involved will be coming up with—and pulling off—a move worthy of all-time consideration. Scroll through the history of the dunk contest—which began in 1984 and took a break in 1998 and 1999—and you’ll see just about every shape and style of slam imaginable. How, then, could the latest quartet of entrants hope to break new ground? It’s a question fans have asked every year, and it’s been answered affirmatively just as often. So long as there’s fresh blood in the field, there will always be something new, different and downright unbelievable to behold.