The Best NBA Dunk Contest of All-Time

The Best NBA Dunk Contest of All-Time

Tomorrow night, NBA fans will convene at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, UT, for All-Star weekend festivities. While the run of show continues to evolve, my personal favorite has and will always be the dunk contest. 

The NBA will have 4 players participate tomorrow: 

Trey Murphy III (New Orleans Pelicans)
Kenyon Martin Jr. (Houston Rockets)
Jericho Sims (New York Knicks)
Mac McClung (Philadelphia 76ers)

We could write another blog on how watered down the contestants have become. McClung has appeared in just 2 regular season games this year, while spending most of his time in the G League. We'll save that for another day, though. 

The Finalists

1. We have to include the 1988 contest, which came down to Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins. A lot of these Jordan dunks are still repeatedly replayed, despite being 35 years old! 

2.  In 2003, Jason Richardson put on an incredible display of athleticism. His dunk at the 6:09 mark....yeah, that was some stuff. 

3. In 1986, Spud Webb, despite not being able to palm a basketball, puts on a show. 

4. In 2000, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Jerry Stackhouse, Larry Hughes, Ricky Davis, and Steve Francis were ultimately the best combination of athletes ever to participate. 

And The Winner Is...

If you remove the years and the size of the players (Spud's dunks looked better because he was so small), I think it's pretty clear who had the best dunk contest performance ever. 

His name is Vince Carter. 

Best of luck to the 4 participants tomorrow night, and we'll see if anyone can even come close to being in the conversation. 

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