World Champions:
The Dunk Contest will always reach higher peaks in your memory than watching it live on a Saturday night. A highlight reel of the dunks, one that skips all the misses and flies through all the underwhelming ones, is the best way to consume the Dunk Content. The ebb-and-flow and the tension of an NBA game doesn’t really exist for a live dunk contest, but we always think it might, so that’s why we’re glued to a television screen anyway.
Saturday’s Dunk Contest was an average one. It didn’t blow anything out of the water, but it performed adequately. Donovan Mitchell was the winner, and for reasons that I’ll explain later, I wasn’t the biggest fan. Utah fans will note, correctly, that I’m a Dallas guy. We might as well get any biases out front right now. Never mind that he’ll probably be my Rookie of the Year pick at the end of the season — I’m a hater, folks. You got me.
From worst to best, here are all 12 Dunk Contest jams, ranked in correct and absolute order.
12. Victor Oladipo’s missed dunk
11. Victor Oladipo’s ‘Black Panther’ routine
10. Donovan Mitchell’s Walmart-brand tribute to Vince Carter
9. Donovan Mitchell’s alley-oop off glass
8. Larry Nance’s alley-oop windmill
7. Donovan Mitchell’s dunk over Kevin Hart (and friends)
6. Donovan Mitchell’s second backboard alley-oop
5. Larry Nance’s under-the-backboard windmill slam
4. Dennis Smith Jr.’s double-clutch reverse
3. Larry Nance’s tribute to his dad
2. Larry Nance Jr.’s double-tap jam
1. Dennis Smith Jr.’s between-the-legs 360 slam
For High Lights(Click now)