Ranking the 10 Best NBA Slam Dunk Contests of All Time

The three-point era of the NBA is in full swing, but the dunk is still the league's defining shot.

Everyone loves a triple, and the broadening worldwide appeal of the game has a lot to do with the popularization of a shot that anyone can shoot. But slams—especially the iconic ones from All-Star Weekend's dunk contests—remind us that the NBA initially gained popularity because its players seemed superhuman.

Here, we'll catalog the 10 greatest dunk contests of all time, and you'd better believe the list will feature reminders of just how spectacularly, unfathomably athletic and creative NBA players have been over the years.

10. Dr. J Changes the Game

We have to start by honoring the dunk contest that started them all, a 1976 edition that was technically associated with the ABA and headlined by Julius Erving.

Dr. J won by throwing down a slam from the free-throw line, a feat that might fairly be compared to the Wright brothers flying the world's first airplane. Every aerial achievement that came after it owed it a debt.

The footage is grainy, and many of the dunks fail to compare to what we see in the modern era. But this was almost 50 years ago. You have to appreciate the dunkers who got us to where we are, and Erving is tops in that class.

9. Jason Richardson Takes Up the Torch

Despite the ill-advised inclusion of the "Dunk Wheel", which forced participants to imitate notable jams from past contests, Jason Richardson still managed to put on a show in 2002 that assured fans the NBA had a dunker worthy enough to be Vince Carter's contest successor.

Don't worry, much more on Carter and his 2000 efforts is coming.

Competing against Desmond Mason, Gerald Wallace and Steve Francis, the Golden State Warriors rookie assumed his place as the league's best power dunker since Dominique Wilkins by throwing down a bevy of violent—but always perfectly clean—spikes over two rounds.

His most impressive dunk, a 360 windmill came early in the competition, but he won it on a two-handed reverse off the bounce.

8. The Cupcake

The 2008 dunk contest should be used in the case against fan voting, as viewers somehow overlooked Gerald Green's creative artistry in favor of Dwight Howard wearing a cape while dunking.

The Superman throwdown was fine, but you can't objectively say it was better than the inclusion of a pastry.

Green threw down one of my personal favorite jams of all time, known today as the Cupcake Dunk, during which he set up a step ladder, placed a cupcake on the rim, lit a candle and blew out said candle while dunking. Not to be overlooked, Green also put down a between-the-legs slam in his socks. Nobody else has ever tried either of those.

Props aren't always a great idea, but Green had everyone in the arena wondering "Is he really going to do this?" when he lit that candle.

7. MJ and Dominique Square Off

Dr. J's performance in 1976 got things started, but the 1985 dunk contest was the true turning point. It featured a rookie named Michael Jordan losing to Dominique Wilkins in a boundary-pushing final round.

As MJ and Wilkins traded three haymakers apiece to close the contest, fans in the arena approached a state of delirium. It was as if they could tell the sport was changing right in front of them.

Two-handed windmills from 'Nique gave way to Jordan cupping the ball for a reverse as he ducked under the rim. It was modern NBA athleticism being displayed for a crowd 40 years ago that must have understood it was witnessing the future.

6. Zach LaVine Arrives

We had quite a gap between the Carter/Richardson era and Zach LaVine's 2015 dunk contest debut, but the layoff was worth the payoff.

LaVine gave us the Space Jam dunk, a never-before-seen mid-air behind-the-back slam off the bounce and an easy reverse between-the-legs high-riser that hearkened back to a dunk that won J-Rich the 2003 contest.

LaVine was such an easy leaper in his early days that his performance remains underrated. All the spectacular things he did in the air simply didn't look difficult, and he earns extra credit for excelling primarily as a one-foot jumper. Typically, these contests favor explosive, two-foot leapers.

The most impressive part: 2015 wasn't even LaVine's best contest showing.

5. Spud Webb Steals the Show

Even though it has existed in the historical record for almost 40 years, Spud Webb's 1986 dunk contest performance still seems somehow unreal.

At 5'7", Webb became the shortest participant and winner in contest history. When he lifted off, he just seemed to keep rising. And when he reached the rim, the sheer amount of space between his feet and the floor defied logic.

It was the kind of thing that, if you saw it today while scrolling through your phone, you'd immediately assume CGI was involved.

Webb utilized lobs, reverses and one-handed throwdowns in a shocking display that stunned everyone in the building and watching at home. His teammate and defending champion, Dominique Willkins, never had a chance.

4. J-Rich Repeats

If Richardson's 2002 win had your curiosity, what he did the following year certainly got your attention.

J-Rich took down Desmond Mason for the second straight year and dispatched notable leapers Amar'e Stoudemire and Richard Jefferson with little trouble. Mason put up an admirable fight in the final, flashing elite lift and a bunch of clean left-handed finishes, but it was no match for Richardson's two-foot-propelled power.

You can hear the crowd in Atlanta exploding with each ruthless slam.

The capper was a self-lob from the right corner that needed to be seen in slow-motion to fully grasp the gravity. Richardson took the ball backwards between his legs with his right hand, transferred it to his left and threw it down while staring at the basket at the other end of the floor.

Bedlam ensued afterward, and there was almost no need to tally votes when half the players in attendance swarmed the floor in celebration.

3. Jordan Exacts Vengeance

Michael Jordan had the hometown advantage in 1988, and he used it to great effect in knocking off Wilkins, the man who bested him back in 1985.

This contest featured MJ's iconic free-throw line flight—the one where he had the audacity to cock the ball back before jamming it through the rim. Wilkins answered with his typical arsenal of windmills and power dunks, but they weren't enough to sway a raucous Chicago crowd or the judges, who handed Jordan a perfect score of 50 on his final, decisive dunk.

This one could have gone either way, but Wilkins wasn't involved in a fair fight. Best of all, the vengeance angle feeds into the mythical nature of MJ's competitiveness. He was beaten in 1985, but he roared back to get the last word three years later.

2. LaVine vs. Gordon in 2016

There are only two legitimate choices for the top positions here, and we've slotted the best mano-a-mano duel in this spot, leaving the best individual performance for last.

LaVine barely defended his 2015 crown against a wildly creative Aaron Gordon in 2016, and the duo swapped perfect scores until the judges couldn't hand out any more.

Gordon went between his legs, so LaVine went behind his back. Gordon dunked off a mascot's head, so LaVine lobbed it to himself from the foul line. Gordon incorporated the mascot for a 360 windmill. LaVine lobbed it to himself for his own full-rotation one-hander.

The whole thing should have ended in a tie when Gordon incomprehensibly leapt over the mascot while putting the ball under both legs in a seated position, after which LaVine windmilled from the foul line.

LaVine eventually took the title, but Gordon would have won in almost any other year.

1. Pure Vinsanity

The greatest dunker in the history of the NBA put on the most astounding show anyone had ever seen in 2000, wowing the Oakland crowd and ensuring that everyone watching at home would remember where they were when they saw Vince Carter put the lie to gravity.

Carter blew fans away with a wrong-way 360 windmill, invented "the elbow dunk" and bested a criminally underrated field that saw Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady turn in showings that would have been title-worthy in literally any year prior to 2000.

Carter finishes his dunks with effortless power, and his sneering showmanship made his win seem inevitable. He showed us things we'd never seen before, basically setting the tone for the next quarter-century of dunkers. He was part Dr. J, part MJ, part 'Nique and singularly himself—all at once.