Top 160 Dunks in NBA Slam Dunk Contest History With Clips: Vote Your Favorite

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The Blake Griffin hype train is in full force right now.

With a month to go before the NBA Slam Dunk contest, Blake Griffin seems to already have everyone’s vote. Griffin has been on a remarkable tear in his rookie season, showing explosiveness and power reminiscent of the greatest power forward dunkers of all-time like Dominique Wilkins.

In fact, Griffin may just have the most power and explosiveness of all-time.

As we prepare for the onslaught that Griffin will unleash in front of his home crowd in Los Angeles on February 19, let’s take a look at 160 of the top dunks in NBA Slam Dunk Contest history year by year.

Side note: Thank you, Kenny Smith for helping make the dunk contest even better with your superior commentating!

And don’t forget to post your vote below for your favorite dunk in NBA history!

Julius Erving’s Behind the Back Reverse in 1984

54 seconds in, he even hits his head!

Julius Erving Slams the Backboard First in 1984

1:06 in, didn’t expect that one…

Julius Erving’s Reverse Two-Hander in 1984

1:47 in, one of the prettiest dunks of the competition.

Larry Nance’s Cradle Reverse in 1984

1:59 in, fantastic dunk.

Julius Erving Dunks from the Free Throw Line

2:10 in, Dr. J recreates magic!

Larry Nance’s Cradle Windmill in 1984

2:30 in, one of the best dunks of the competition.

Terence Stansbury’s 360 in 1985

2:30 in, a fantastic 360.

Dominique Wilkins’ 360 in 1985

3:40 in, with even more power than before.

Michael Jordan’s Rock the Cradle in 1985

5:35 in, one of the all-time greatest dunks in history.

Terence Stansbury’s Two-Handed Reverse in 1985

6:20 in, a great reverse dunk.

Dominique Wilkins’ Windmill in 1985

7:10 in, amazing power on the windmill.

Julius Erving Dunks Two Basketballs in 1985

20 seconds in, Dr. J hands out two prescriptions.

Michael Jordan’s Up and Under Dunk in 1985

2:20 in, a brilliant dunk for MJ.

Michael Jordan Dunks from the Free Throw Line in 1985

3:25 in, one of the best dunks in NBA history.

Michael Jordan’s Cradle Reverse in 1985

6:30 in, a spectacular dunk.

Dominique Wilkins’ Two-Handed Windmill in 1985

7:20 in, Wilkins clinches the win.

Spud Webb’s 360 One-Hander in 1986

44 seconds in, don’t you wish you could get up like that too!?

Spud Webb’s Double Clutch in 1986

1:20 in, you can’t forget about Webb’s size!

Spud Webb’s Alley-Oop Reverse in 1986

1:30 in, the icing on the cake!

Dominique Wilkins’ Explosive Windmill in 1986

1:40 in, “take that, little guy!”

Spud Webb’s 360 One-Hander in 1986

2:00 in, I love the power Webb gets on this one!

Spud Webb’s Alley-Oop Bounce off the Backboard in 1986

2:25 in, Spud Webb with the clincher!

Dominique Wilkins’ Two-Handed Windmill in 1986

2:42 in, you may not think so, but I do.

Michael Jordan’s Reverse Two-Hander in 1987

1:30 in, a great reverse two-hander from MJ.

Michael Jordan’s Leaner in 1987

4:55 in, such a great dunk.

Michael Jordan’s Double Clutch Reverse in 1988

2:50 in, nobody does it with the same flare as MJ.

Clyde Drexler’s Windmill from the Side in 1988

3:30 in, Clyde the Glide does it again.

Dominique Wilkins’ Effortless 360 in 1988

4:22 in, Wilkins displays effortless power on his 360.

Michael Jordan Dunks from the Free Throw Line in 1988

6:30 in, Jordan puts down one of the greatest dunks ever.

Otis Smith’s Alley-Oop off the Backboard One-Hander in 1988

8:40 in, Smith displays great power on this one-hander.

Clyde Drexler Dunks by Free Throw Line in 1988

Jordan already did the dunk in the contest better, but this was still a nice dunk.

Dominique Wilkins’ Windmill in 1988

Wilkins throws it down with authority 1:10 in.

Michael Jordan’s Kiss the Rim Windmill in 1988

2:10 in, no explanation needed.

Dominique Wilkins’ 360 Two-Hander in 1988

5:45 in, Wilkins puts down a flawless 360 although he didn’t get a 50.

Michael Jordan’s Under the Rim Reverse One-Hander in 1988

7:10 in, another fantastic dunk from MJ.

Dominique Wilkins’ High Alley-Oop in 1988

2:00 in, can Wilkins get any higher!?

Michael Jordan’s Two-Handed Double Clutch in 1988

3:00 in, nothing short of excellence from “His Airness.”

Dominique Wilkins’ Monster Windmill in 1988

3:50 min, this is how a windmill is supposed to be done.

Michael Jordan’s Rock the Cradle Two-Hander in 1988

5:00 in, this is why Jordan is the best of all-time.

Dominique Wilkins’ Two-Handed Windmill in 1988

6:20 in, this may be my favorite windmill of all-time and the judges don’t reward Wilkins for it.

Michael Jordan’s Final Dunk from the Free Throw Line in 1988

7:30 in, Jordan wins it all.

Spud Webb’s Two-Handed Reverse Dunk in 1989

45 seconds in, Webb goes up, and up, and up before putting it down.

Shelton Jones’ Rock the Cradle in 1989

3:10 in, Jones puts down a nice one.

Ron Harper’s Off the Floor off the Backboard Alley-Oop in 1989

6:10 in, now that’s a fine, creative one-handed dunk. Gotta love allof the alley-oops.

Clyde Drexler’s Two-Handed Reverse in 1989

7:25 in, that’s why he’s Clyde The Glide!

Spud Webb’s One-Handed 360 in 1989

9:05 in, that’s why he’s one of the best in dunk contest history.

Kenny Walker’s 360 Two-Hander in 1989

The first dunk in the video, as the announcer says, it’s all about flare!

Clyde Drexler’s Reverse 360 One-Hander in 1989

1:55 in, I love this dunk.

Spud Webb’s High Alley-Oop in 1989

4:55 in, Webb goes up and gets this one!

Kenny Walker’s 360 Slam in 1989

Gotta love the power here, 8:40 into the video.

Kenny Walker’s 360 Explosion in 1989

5:35 in. Please put your eyes back in your head.

Rex Chapman’s Behind the Back Alley-Oop Reverse in 1990

30 seconds in, Chapman puts down a creative and smooth dunk.

Scottie Pippen Dunks from the Free Throw Line in 1990

40 seconds in, Robin (Pippen) shows everyone he can do what Batman (Jordan) can do.

Dominique Wilkins’ Windmill in 1990

1:00 into the video, Wilkins shows us why he’s the master of the windmill.

Billy Thompson Dunks Two Basketballs in 1990

At 1:08, Thompson says one ball just isn’t enough sometimes…

Shawn Kemp’s Self Alley-Oop in 1990

2:00 in, Kemp puts down a nice dunk.

Kenny Walker’s Under the Hoop Reverse Cradle in 1990

2:10 in, where did that come from!? What a dunk.

Kenny Walker’s 360 Power Windmill in 1990

2:20 in… Whoa. Just whoa.

Kenny Smith’s 360 Alley-Oop in 1990

Beautiful dunk 2:30 into the video.

Dominique Wilkins’ Two-Handed Power Windmill in 1990

2:42 in, Wilkins shows why the windmill is his premier dunk.

Kenny Smith’s Between the Legs Alley-Oop off the Backboard Reverse in 1991

“The Jet” shows his creativity in the first dunk of the video.

Rex Chapman’s Behind the Back Alley-Oop Reverse in 1991

1:20 into the video, Chapman displays great creativity and power.

Dee Brown’s Two Handed Windmill in 1991

2:00 into the video, Brown’s windmill is great for someone his size.

Rex Chapman’s Bounce off the Floor off the Backboard Alley-Oop in 1991

2:11 into the video, Chapman once again throws it down with creativity and power.

Shawn Kemp’s Behind the Back Alley-Oop Reverse in 1991

2:35 in, Kemp ups the creativity and the power.

Shawn Kemp’s Alley-Oop Windmill in 1991

Now that’s a dunk 3:12 into the video.

Dee Brown Gets As Low As He Can Go in 1991

3:21 into the video, can Brown get the ball any lower!?

Shawn Kemp’s Out of Bounds Alley-Oop in 1991

3:35 in, Kemp throws it down after grabbing the ball out of bounds behind the hoop.

Shawn Kemp Just Inside the Free Throw Line in 1991

4:06 in, the explosive dunker shows he can also soar through the air.

Dee Brown’s No Look in 1991

One of the all-time great dunks.

Larry Johnson’s Off the Backboard to the Other Side in 1992

At 4:30 in this video, Larry Johnson makes things look way too easy.

Doug West’s Cradle Reverse Two-Hander in 1992

At 8:45 of the video, even the commentators agree the fans have become too spoiled by not giving West the reaction he deserved for such a pretty dunk.

Larry Johnson’s Alley-Oop off the Floor to the Backboard One-Hander in 1992

At 4:15, this was a great dunk.

Nick Anderson’s 360 Two-Hander in 1992

Fantastic dunk with great power at 3:50.

Cedric Ceballos’ Alley-Oop Windmill in 1992

At 5:15, this is an awesome dunk.

Larry Johnson’s Reverse Dunk in 1992

This may have been LJ’s best dunk of the night.

John Starks’ Alley-Oop Two Hander in 1992

At 7:15, Starks makes a great dunk considering his size.

Cedric Ceballos’ Behind the Hoop Bounce Alley-Oop in 1992

At 9:40, Ceballos does something never done before.

Larry Johnson’s 360 One-Hander in 1992

Grandmama does it all in this dunk.

Cedric Ceballos’ Cradle Dunk to the Other Side in 1992

At 8:30, Ceballos clinches the win.

Cedric Ceballos’ Blindfolded Two-Hander in 1992

Cedric Ceballos pulls out all the stops on his final dunk.

Kenny Smith’s Alley-Oop 360 Two-Hander in 1993

20 seconds into the video, Kenny Smith shows us how it’s done.

Harold Miner’s Power Dunk From Down Low in 1993

At :32 seconds in, Miner shows us how low he can go and comes back up with supreme power.

Clarence Weatherspoon’s Windmill in 1993

Excellent windmill from Clarence at 2:20.

Harold Miner’s Left Handed Windmill in 1993

3:15 seconds into the video, Miner switches up the windmill by going lefty.

Harold Miner’s Final Left Handed Windmill in 1993

Just for kicks, Miner adds a degree of difficulty to his left-handed windmill to seal the victory at 3:25 of the video.

Robert Pack’s Alley-Oop Off the Backboard One Hander in 1994

Puts it down with power off the backboard.

Allan Houston’s Alley-Oop Bounce off His Head in 1994

Just for laughs at :50 of the video.

Isaiah Rider’s Big Alley-Oop in 1994

At 1:00 of the video, Rider goes up and gets this alley-oop at its highest point.

Isaiah Rider’s Alley-Oop off the Backboard One-Hander in 1994

At 1:15, gotta love that beauty of a dunk.

Shawn Kemp’s Behind the Back Alley-Oop Reverse in 1994

At 1:38, Kemp spices things up.

Isaiah Rider’s Between the Legs in 1994

At 1:50, Rider makes history. One of my favorite dunks of all-time.

Harold Miner’s Alley-Oop Off the Backboard One-Hander in 1995

Personally, I was always a fan of off-the-backboard alley’s. Plus Miner catches it with one hand at 50 seconds in.

Isaiah Rider’s Alley-Oop Two-Hander in 1995

Rider goes up and gets this one at 2:10 of the video.

Harold Miner’s Cradle Windmill in 1995

Best dunk of the ‘95 competition at 2:55 of the video.

Brent Barry’s Dunk from the Free Throw Line in 1996

This was great.

Darrell Armstrong’s Two-Handed Reverse in 1996

His first dunk in this video is very nice.

Greg Minor’s Alley-Oop One Handed Slam in 1996

At 1:30 of the video, Minor puts this one down.

Michael Finley’s Alley-Oop Windmill in 1996

At 2:00 of the video, Finley throws down his best dunk of the competition.

Darvin Ham’s Statue of Liberty Glass Tip in 1997

Didn’t get the reaction it deserved at 6:00 of the video.

Kobe Bryant’s One-Handed Reverse to Opposite Side of Rim in 1997

Bryant’s first dunk of the contest is a nice one at 8:00 of the video.

Michael Finley’s Alley-Oop Windmill in 1997

Finley’s windmill at 2:25 of the video is a solid one.

Kobe Bryant’s Between the Legs in 1997

Bryant’s first dunk of the video at 4:33 is explosive and he knows it.

Tracy McGrady’s Alley-Oop Reverse Dunk in 2000

Tracy McGrady’s first dunk in this video is just nice.

Steve Francis’ Alley-Oop One-Handed Slam in 2000

Francis’ first dunk in this video shows him soar through the air.

Vince Carter’s 360 Windmill in 2000

Yeah, Shaq’s reaction says it all. Feel free to pick your jaw up from off the floor, please.

Tracy McGrady’s Alley-Oop Windmill in 2000

Great windmill dunk.

Steve Francis’ Alley-Oop One-Handed Reach Back in 2000

Francis reaches back to get this one and still throws it down.

Vince Carter’s Underneath the Hoop Windmill in 2000

Yeah, that just happened.

Tracy McGrady’s 360 Two-Hander in 2000

Sensational.

Vince Carter’s Alley-Oop Between the Legs in 2000

Unreal. It’s over.

Tracy McGrady’s Alley-Oop Two-Handed Windmill in 2000

McGrady’s gorgeous dunk at 9:20 of the video.

Vince Carter Puts His Elbow Through the Rim in 2000

Carter’s first dunk of the video. It’s not insanity. It’s VINCEanity.

Steve Francis’ Alley-Oop Reverse in 2000

Francis’ dunk at 3:00, as Kenny says, is not here due to sympathy.

Vince Carter’s Two-Handed Slam by the Free Throw Line in 2000

Carter had the entire crowd in the palm of his hands on his final dunk of the video and the contest.

Baron Davis’ One-Handed Alley-Oop in 2001

The first dunk in this video displays great elevation.

Desmon Mason’s One-Handed Dunk over Teammate in 2001

Mason’s first dunk in the video shows what type of spring he has considering where he jumps from.

Baron Davis’ Alley-Oop Slam Dunk in 2001

Davis has the help from his teammate, camera prop and a nice one-handed slam.

Desmond Mason’s One-Handed MJ Tribute in 2001

Reminiscent of MJ, Mason puts this one down in his third dunk of the video.

Desmond Mason’s Two-Handed Windmill in 2001

His final dunk of the video to seal the win. There’s just something about the windmill.

Gerald Wallace’s Dunk from the Free Throw Line in 2002

Wallace had to emulate Dr. J and he did a fine job.

Desmond Mason’s Windmill in 2002

His dunk at 1:27 in the video displays great power.

Jason Richardson’s Thunderous Windmill in 2002

J-Rich brought the rain, the thunder and the lightning.

Jason Richardson’s Alley-Oop Two-Handed Reverse Windmill in 2002

Richardson’s final dunk in this video is electric.

Desmond Mason’s Rock the Cradle in 2003

Great dunk.

Jason Richardson’s Alley-Oop Windmill in 2003

Richardson’s first dunk in the video. J-Rich elevates and throws it down with so much power. A thing of beauty.

Desmond Mason’s Left Handed Between the Legs in 2003

"He’s got the flu!"

Desmond Mason’s Two-Handed Windmill in 2003

Mason’s final dunk in this video.

Jason Richardson’s One-Handed Reverse Between the Legs in 2003

Holy shhh…

Fred Jones’ Alley-Oop One-Hander in 2004

Maybe it’s just me, but I like it. Goes up and gets it, catches it with one hand and puts it down with power. Overrated by the judges that year though.

Jason Richardson’s Power Windmill from Out of Bounds in 2004

Richardson’s first dunk in this video. So fluid.

Jason Richardson’s Off the Backboard Between the Legs in 2004

An all-time great dunk.

Fred Jones’ 360 Alley-Oop One Hander in 2004

Jones’ third dunk in this video. Acrobatic dunk.

J.R. Smith’s Behind the Back in 2005

Impressive.

Josh Smith’s Windmill over Kenyon Martin in 2005

Fantastic power. And Josh soars through the air so smoothly. What a dunk.

Amar’e Stoudemire’s Alley-Oop Dunk from Steve Nash’s Head in 2005

Better for Nash’s assist, but an amazing moment.

Josh Smith’s Monster Windmill in 2005

Josh pays homage to ‘Nique with this jaw-dropping windmill. Smith knew how to get the crowd going with the jersey too.

Amar’e Stoudemire’s Alley-Oop from Steve Nash’s Feet in 2005

Again, Nash is the star in this, but it’s still fun to see.

Josh Smith’s Reverse Windmill in 2005

His final dunk of the night (and the video) was as fluid and impressive as the rest. Smith put on a top 10 performance in dunk contest history in 2005.

Andre Iguodala’s Alley-Oop Behind the Backboard in 2006

Wow.

Andre Iguodala’s Alley-Oop Behind the Back in 2006

Double wow.

Nate Robinson Dunks over Spud Webb in 2006

Paying homage. Love it.

Andre Iguodala’s Two Between the Legs Dunks in 2006

Both of the last two dunks in the video. Iguodala increases the degree of difficulty of the dunk.

Nate Robinson’s Alley-Oop One-Hander in 2007

Underrated dunk from Nate. He just soars during this one.

Dwight Howard’s Sticker Dunk in 2007

One of the most underrated dunks of all-time.

Gerald Green’s Dee Brown Tribute Over Nate Robinson in 2007

A nice throwback tribute, plus he does it over Nate Robinson. Love the showmanship with the shoes and jersey. Like Kenny says, “you gotta sell your dunks!”

Dwight Howard’s Behind the Backboard Windmill in 2008

Speechless.

Gerald Green’s Cupcake Dunk in 2008

Easily one of my favorite dunks of all time.

Dwight Howard’s Superman Dunk in 2008

Everything about this moment is all-time epic.

Gerald Green’s Alley-Oop Between the Legs in 2008

Sir Charles is right, we are too spoiled… I still get hyped for the between the legs dunk.

Dwight Howard’s Alley-Oop Off the Backboard Tip in 2008

“Humanly impossible…”

Dwight Howard’s Windmill Off the Baby Hoop in 2008

Oh, the authority… Love the creativity from DH12 the entire dunk contest.

J.R. Smith’s Double Bounce Windmill in 2009

Fantastic timing on a double bounce.

Dwight Howard’s Out of Bounds Lob Windmill in 2009

Judges gave it a 50. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. But it was a nice dunk from “Superman.”

Rudy Fernandez’ Behind the Backboard One Hander in 2009

Although it took a while, the degree of difficulty on this dunk is extremely high so it was still nice when he finally made it.

Dwight Howard’s 12-Foot Dunk in 2009

It may have been too easy, but it’s still impressive.

Nate Robinson’s Kryptonite Leap of “Superman” in 2009

Nate pulled out all of the theatrics with the green kryptonite jersey and basketball before leaping over “Superman” Dwight Howard.

 

Gotta love the creativity, showmanship and sportsmanship all around to entertain the fans.

DeMar Derozan’s Off the Backboard Hurdle in 2010

The announcer’s didn’t care for it, but I thought the timing was great and the one hand was a nice touch.

DeMar Derozan’s Off the Side of the Backboard in 2010

“Wake me up, young man!”

Nate Robinson’s Off the Backboard Reverse in 2010

First ever three-time Slam Dunk Champion.