Basketball is a game defined by iconic moments: buzzer beaters, insane cross-ups, layups, and dunks. While the highlights the latter facet of the game prominently during its All-Star Weekend, which consists of a , no better dunk is the authentic, dominant one that occurs naturally during a big game. What sets apart the contest dunks from their in-game counterparts is the natural nature of the latter. Sure, contest dunks are elaborate contraptions set up to entice the audience, usually using flairs for the dramatic in order to garner points – think of jumping over cars, or . Julius Irving Jan. 5, 1983
Los Angeles Lakers Gerald Green Mar. 10, 2012 Houston Rockets Shaquille O'Neal Jun. 4, 2000 Portland Trail Blazers
LeBron James Jan. 24, 2012
Los Angeles Lakers Dominique Wilkins Jan. 25, 1984 Milwaukee Bucks Ja Morant Jan. 24, 2023 Indiana Pacers DeAndre Jordan Mar. 10, 2013 Detroit Pistons Giannis Antetokounmpo Feb. 6, 2018
New York Knicks Baron Davis May 11, 2007
Utah Jazz Vince Carter Feb. 24, 1999 Indiana Pacers But in-game dunks happen naturally, in the spur of the moment. The stars (or in this case, the action on the court) must align for a player to complete a successful dunk, a display of dominance for both themselves and the team they represent. The greatest in-game dunks of all time showcase these aspects, spinning heads and sending shockwaves across
Social Media and the observing world. The smoothest and most iconic dunk the
NBA world has ever seen occurred on January 5, 1983. That night, Julius Irving of the nailed an absolutely lethal dunk on Michael Cooper of the . Irving proceeded to make a baby rocking motion, prompting broadcaster Chick Hearn to exclaim "rocks the baby, and put it to sleep!” What cemented this dunk as the greatest of all time was the circumstances. The Lakers were the defending champions at the time, at the peak of their ‘Showtime’ era, and Michael Cooper was an all-time defender. The baby-rocking move was a display of dominance from Irving, sending the 76er fans in attendance into a frenzy. The dunk paved the way for many more to follow. The windmill ended up becoming the highlight of Gerald Green’s career. For a dunk to become the highlight of a player’s career, it certainly indicates that the dunk was an all-time classic. And this it was. On March 10, 2012, Green’s were facing off against the in the Nets’ final season in the Garden State. In transition, the ball was run up the court and passed to Green in a two-on-one. Green caught the ball while proceeding to jump so high, his head was above the rim. That is when he connected for a windmill slam dunk, sending the crowd into a frenzy and getting the Nets closer to the lead. The Rockets would defeat the Nets 112-106 in the game, but Green’s legendary dunk softened the loss a bit. This dunk was less theatrical and more iconic than anything. In Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the , passed the ball to Shaquille O’Neal in an alley-oop, which Shaq used his tall nature to dunk in. The moment became synonymous with the Lakers dynasty of the early 2000s, which saw Bryant and O’Neal notch three straight titles in the opening years of the century. Bob Costas’ “Kobe to Shaq” call still lives on as one of the most iconic in the game’s history, with this dunk. On January 24, 2012, found himself facing his current team, the Lakers, as a member of the . On that day, James would record a legendary dunk that saw himself jump completely over John Lucas III, connecting for the lethal slam. There have been very few players in NBA history that have been able to leap over entire players, let alone players of James’ size. But James was able to do so, cementing this dunk as one of the game’s greatest. Lucas never knew what hit him – nothing, since James went over him. Interestingly, after James joined the Lakers, the team hired Lucas as an assistant coach to Frank Vogel. to acknowledge the duo’s first reunion since that fateful dunk in a humorous manner. While dunks display dominance and power for the player performing them, they often induce embarrassment and shame on the victim player. This was no doubt the case in 1984, when dunk king Dominique Wilkins dunked on the late Hall-of-Famer Bob Lanier. The “Human Highlight Film” Wilkins spun away from a double-team and proceeded to sideways dunk on Lanier, which of course the crowd went wild over. But this dunk became legendary for the rift that it caused between Wilkins and Lanier. Lanier would refuse to talk to Wilkins again for the next nine years, vowing to never speak to him again for the rest of his career. “Right after I [Wilkins] retired, [Lanier] said, 'You know, I just started talking to you again.' I was like, 'Why?' He said, 'The dunk you had on me on the baseline when I was with Milwaukee, I had to go home and talk to my kids, and my daughter said, 'That dunk was on TV, you got dunked on by Dominique Wilkins like that??' I didn't like you after that, so I didn't speak to you for nine years.” —Wilkins on why Lainer refused to speak to him Not often do dunks cause Hall-of-Fame players such shame that they refuse to talk to their dunker for years, potentially ruining friendships. But when they do, they become legendary. When is on the court, he is an absolute beast for the . On January 24, 2023, Morant established his presence on the court with a lethal dunk on Jalen Smith and the . With the ball in possession, Morant cocked back his arm and extended it into the basket in a full arc. At that moment, Green was posterized and Morant left the commentators – and the opposing crowd – in awe. During the height of the “Lob City” , the team faced off against the on a cool March 10, 2013 night. This was when and connected for a slam dunk on Brandon Knight. With Jordan jumping high in the middle of the key, Paul on the outskirts of the court passed the ball to Jordan, who connected for the lethal dunk on Knight. The dunk posterized Knight, leading to countless internet memes being spawned about the event. As mentioned earlier, very few players have been able to jump over entire players to accomplish a slam dunk. LeBron did it in 2012, and did it in 2018. Only he jumped over Tim Hardaway Jr. of the , who was even bigger than John Lucas III (6-foot-5 versus 5-foot-11). stole the ball from the Knicks and ran up the court, with Antetokounmpo following to his right. In a two-on-one, Middleton passed the ball to Antetokounmpo, who completely leaped over Hardaway Jr. to nail the dunk. The sheer gravity of this dunk, combined with Hardaway Jr.’s infinitely larger size than Lucas III, cemented this dunk as one of the league’s best. The have been one of the NBA’s most elite teams over the past decade. But prior to that, they endured a stretch now mostly forgotten, known as the “We Believe” Warriors. This stretch occurred mostly in the mid-2000s, in a time marked by a less competitive but still ‘little engine that could’ squad. And this was represented no better than Baron Davis’ epic dunk on May 11, 2007, against the . 6-foot-3 Davis jumped on 6-foot-9 Andrei Kirilenko, sending the Oracle Arena crowd into absolute madness. This dunk was similar to the Kobe-to-Shaq dunk in that it was less impressive in nature, and more impressive in scale and meaning. The dunk came in the midst of an unexpected playoff run, in a year where the underdog warriors knocked off the top-seed Denver Nuggets. In his rookie season of 1998-99, took the league by storm. He would cement his place as a great in the game right away, without hesitation, when he unleashed a filthy dunk. On February 24, 1999, the faced off against the Pacers, and Carter made his presence known. He reversed in traffic to unleash a contest-level dunk in traffic. It left the commentators speechless, and it was in this moment that Carter let the world know he was here to stay.