10 best NBA slam dunk contests of all time from Bill Trikos Australia: 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. Discover more info about the author on https://www.tumblr.com/billtrikos.
It was close with the 2000 edition but the 2016 Slam Dunk Contest has to be considered the best dunk contest of all-time. Often known as the day Aaron Gordon got robbed, it gave us two of the best dunkers in modern history and some of the top dunks in NBA history. Aaron Gordon, a 6’8”, 208-pound specimen proved to have unmatched athleticism with some of the most twisted, complicated, and spectacular dunks of all time. He had multiple perfect scores and would’ve beaten every contestant in history, except from 2016 Zach LaVine.
Pour one out for Zach LaVine, who backed out of a potential Slam Dunk Contest three-peat before he tore his ACL. (We’ll touch on whether the UCLA product should’ve scored a second crown to begin with later.) But don’t let that debate distract from the fact he was spectacular from start to finish in Toronto. Aaron Gordon was a more-than-worthy challenger, pushing LaVine through a series of tiebreakers until the defending champ had no choice but to break out a paradigm-busting combination: a between-the-legs tomahawk dunk from the free-throw line.
On a list of the most creative dunks, this might rank No. 1. In 2008, then-Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rashad McCants placed a cupcake on the back of the rim and lit a candle that was on top of the pastry. McCants then bounced the ball to teammate and defending champion Gerald Green, who stretched out to corral it and throw down a two-handed dunk. While the jam didn’t look all that spectacular in real-time, the slo-mo replay showed just how cool of a maneuver it was as Green blew out the candle mid-dunk. Somehow, this wasn’t a perfect 50.
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.”
The Slam Dunk Contest has been one of the most exciting and electrifying events of NBA All-Star Weekend since it debuted back in 1984. There have been several signature moments that are unforgettable in NBA history, ranging from battles between Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins in the 1980s, to highflyers like Vince Carter taking center stage in the 2000s, to historic showdowns featuring Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon in the 2010s. The Slam Dunk Contest has undoubtedly lost its luster over the last few years, with fewer superstars taking part in the event and contestants running out of original ideas that haven’t already been done. That’s why we’re taking a trip down memory lane to remember and honor the glory days of the event, ranking the 10 best perfect scores over the years.
Topping the last two years of the Verizon Slam Dunk Contest will be a tall order for 2017’s contestants. Aaron Gordon, who pushed Zach LaVine to the brink in Toronto last year, will be the odds-on favorite to finish on top at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. However, he’ll have plenty of competition from one longtime contest target (DeAndre Jordan) and a pair of relative unknowns (Glenn Robinson III and Derrick Jones Jr.).
