Obi Toppin Wins 2022 NBA Slam Dunk Contest: Where Win Ranks All-Time
In 2021, Obi Toppin finished second in his NBA Slam Dunk Contest debut as a rookie. This year, the New York Knicks forward fared better, as he defeated Golden State Warriors guard Juan Toscano-Anderson in the finals. However, neither of Toppin's showings will go down as all-time-great performances at the event.
In fact, the 2022 NBA Slam Dunk Contest was nowhere near the most exciting in the event's history, which dates back to 1984, having taken place in all but two years (1998 and 1999) since then. Instead, this year's edition of the Slam Dunk Contest, which took place Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, was not well received by many.
The NBA's top stars haven't been participating in the event in recent years. The 2022 field featured Toppin, Toscano-Anderson, Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony and Houston Rockets rookie guard Jalen Green. But the lesser star power wasn't the reason this year's Slam Dunk Contest wasn't too riveting.
There were plenty of missed dunks throughout the night, as the four competitors struggled to complete their initial attempts. That led to long stretches of time without the ball being slammed through the net.
The scores from the judges weren't high, either, including in the finals. Toscano-Anderson's final two dunks registered scores of 39 and 30, while Toppin won by receiving scores of 45 and 47 on his last two completed dunks of the night.
None of the four dunkers had a score higher than 46 in the first round, so Toppin's 47 on his final attempt went down as the best dunk of the night. Toppin went between the legs on the slam, which may not have been among the top dunks in the contest's history, but was still quite impressive:
It wasn't the most thrilling or exciting NBA Slam Dunk Contest, but Toppin was the clear deserving winner.
"I knew I had to come back for my revenge from last year, and I had fun doing it," Toppin said, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "And we had a lot of great dunkers here today. I'm glad I came out with the W."
While the four players who competed may be great dunkers, they weren't efficient ones Saturday night. Because there were so many misses, the participants often had to ditch their original plans in favor of safer attempts that they could land.
There was also plenty of social media reaction that followed regarding the repeated misses:
Regardless, Toppin's name will be added to the illustrious list of NBA Slam Dunk Contest champions. And although this year's event will be ranked in the bottom tier of the event's history, Toppin's performance should be held in a bit higher regard, even though he didn't defeat the toughest competition.
It wasn't a Slam Dunk Contest win on the same level as Michael Jordan in 1988 or Vince Carter in 2000—or even Zach LaVine in 2016 or Derrick Jones Jr. in 2020—but Toppin still threw down some impressive slams. Because of that, he should be considered a middle-of-the-pack winner when looking back at the history of the Slam Dunk Contest.
So don't put Toppin among the elite Slam Dunk champions, but he was still a worthy winner who ranks among the lower-middle tier in the event's history, considering the difficulty of his dunks and the skill it took to complete them. But fans will likely be hoping for more from the event in the future.
