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Every year, the best basketball players from the top-tier NBA teams get selected based on their season performance to be part of an All-Star Weekend event. This pastime consists of many fun activities, most of which are friendly competitions involving aspects of basketball in which the winning player of an event category can win a trophy, medal, bragging rights, etc.
One of the most anticipated of these All-Star events is the NBA Dunk Contest, where some of the best contestants show off their superior hooping ability by slamming the ball down through the net after catching major air. In this article, we’ll dive into the history of the NBA Dunk Contest, including the very first competition and more recent competitions. We’ll also highlight some of the best Dunk Contests throughout the entire NBA Dunk Contest history.
The NBA has a long history of introducing new and exciting events for the pure fun and joy of the game we all know and love. Before introducing Slam Dunk competitions, the NBA conducted the prestigious All-Star Game on March 2, 1951. In 1976, the NBA hosted its first Dunk Contest after patenting the technology to sustain heavy wear on the rim and backboard to prevent it from shattering.
This was a one-off event but eventually morphed into a halftime pleasure where players would compete one-on-one during the halftime break. While it wasn’t part of the All-Star competition, the slam dunk event consisted of 22 players, one from each team, where “Dr. Dunk” Darnell Hillman would win the very first in 1977, but no trophy was awarded for the first event in NBA Dunk Contest history.
By the early 1980s, the NBA reintroduced the prestigious Dunk Contest as a permanent fixture to the All-Star Weekend bonanza, which first occurred in 1984. Michael Jordan would win back-to-back Dunk Contests in 1987 and 1988, where his 1988 performance scored a perfect 50 points after dunking from the free-throw line. Interestingly enough, fans and players alike agreed Dominique Wilkins, a player who won the contest in 1985, was slightly snubbed score-wise compared to Jordan in 1988.
This wouldn’t stop Atlanta Hawks’ Wilkins, however, as he’d go on to beat Sacramento Kings’ Kenny Smith in 1990. During this period of basketball, dunking became a very sought-after skill, and all players knew the flashiest performance would score them the highest for this particular event. Wilkens knew this, as he slammed down the ball after facing away from the basket, bouncing the ball right between his legs off the backboard, to where he turned, grabbed the ball in the air, and reverse-dunked it.
The event had become extremely popular, so different players wanted to showcase their skills and etch their mark in NBA Dunk Contest history. This led to players like Wilkins and Jordan declining to participate in several future NBA Dunk Contests to give newer players a chance.
Since its debut in 1984, the NBA Dunk Contest has become a regular annual part of America’s basketball culture. Interestingly enough, the 1999 and 1998 Slam Dunk Contests were ruled out due to that year’s NBA lockout. The 1998 competition was replaced with a 2-Ball Contest between several WNBA and NBA players.
Other than the one and only Michael Jordan, there were only three other NBA contests from 1988-2024 that have achieved back-to-back wins in NBA Dunk Contest history. Miami Heat’s Harold Miner came close to winning back-to-back, having won in both 1993 and 1995, so we give him an honorable mention. Golden State’s Jason Richards would be the first to win two consecutive competitions since Michael Jordan during the 2002 and 2003 events.
Next would be New York Knicks Nate Robinson, who would win the 2009 and 2010 tourneys. Robinson had already won in 2006, so he was the first to win three overall contests in NBA Dunk Contest history! The most recent player to score back-to-back Dunk Contest trophies would be Minnesota Timberwolves Zach Lavine, winning in 2015 and 2016.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.