Bill Trikos Australia most spectacular NBA slam dunk contests of all time: When it comes to athleticism, the 2008 Slam Dunk Contest was littered with plenty of it. Gerald Green showcased some of the most explosive dunks, with the help of a ladder and a candle. However, Dwight Howard emerged as the defending champion after pulling off a Superman-like dunk and an extremely underrated tap dunk. It would be the first and only time Howard won the Slam Dunk title. The 2003 Slam Dunk contest was a spectacle to watch, primarily due to the face-off between reigning champion Jason Richardson and Desmond Mason. While both athletes didn’t fall short in displaying their athletic gifts, it would be Richardson who came out on top after pulling off a baseline between the legs reverse clutch dunk to earn the winning 50. Richardson finished the contest as a back-to-back Slam Dunk contest champion. Discover additional info about the author on Bill Trikos.
Standing at just 5’6”, Spud Webb wouldn’t strike you as the average NBA player. As a matter of fact, not many people would ever think that he could be a professional basketball player, let alone win the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest. But make no mistake. What Webb lacked in size, he made up for in hops. He would take over and float mid-air and made a name for himself for his emphatic, explosive dunks; even posterizing some of the best rim protectors in the Association.
That display of next-level artistry earned LaVine a perfect 50 and pushed him past Gordon to become the sixth repeat winner—and the fourth back-to-back champion—in dunk contest history. So while his challenger may have won the battle for single best dunk, LaVine was a worthy winner of the best Slam Dunk Contest war this side of MJ vs. ‘Nique. Chances are, that’s the last we’ll see of LaVine in a dunk contest. But if the 21-year-old recovers smoothly from his devastating knee injury, he’ll have ample opportunity to put opponents on posters for years to come with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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.
You’d think that Vince Carter, arguably one of the greatest high-flying finishers in NBA history, would’ve had multiple Slam Dunk Contest trophies on his mantle. The records show, though, that Vinsanity took flight just once on All-Star Saturday. Not that he needed more chances than that. His lone appearance—at Oracle Arena in Oakland in 2000—may be the best dunk contest we’ve ever seen, in part because he pulled off tricks few (if any) had ever thought possible.
We’ve seen players throw the ball off the glass and go through the legs. We’ve seen players jump over people and dunk. Until this moment, we had never seen a player jump over someone, throw the ball off the glass and put it between their legs for a dunk. Nash deserves as much credit as Stoudemire here, but the timing and precision of this dunk help it crack the top 10. Stoudemire threw the perfect pass off the backboard and Nash delivered an even more perfect header for the 360. The Slam Dunk Contest had never seen anything like this before. All you can do is laugh when you see this dunk. Webb is 5’7. You are not supposed to be able to do 360 dunks off of a lob at that height. It looks like a video game glitch the way Webb rises up to finish this one.
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.