History of the NBA Dunk Contest

One of the best parts of the NBA All-Star Weekend is the Slam Dunk Contest. But how did it start and what is some of the history behind it?

The NBA brought the Slam Dunk Contest back in 1984, it was originally held in the ABA. The contest was brought back in 1984 at its birthplace, Denver. This dunk contest is one of the most memorable as Julius Erving dunked from the free throw line. Larry Nance would eventually win that dunk contest. The next year Dominique Wilkins would win the contest. Wilkins was close to repeating the title but was stopped by his teammate, Spud Webb, who became the shortest player in history to win the dunk contest at 5'7". This paved the way for Michael Jordan to become the first player in the dunk contest to repeat as he won the 1987 and 1988 dunk contests.

As the dunk contest entered the mid 90's the fan interest began to wane in the contest. Players felt that there was no reason to participate in this even as it could cause injury. They also felt that all of the dunks had been done to much. At this point lesser known players started to participate in the contest. This was not a smart move though. The players who began winning the contest were able to win with unoriginal dunks that were, in simple terms, boring.

The NBA saw that the interest and ratings were declining so they choose to cancel the event after the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest. This just happened to be the year that a Kobe Bryant would do a between the legs dunk that would eventually win him the contest. Although Kobe Bryant did some good dunks, the rest of the contest was a complete dud and the contest was quickly criticized.

The NBA decided to layoff the contest for two years. The first contest after the break was in 2000. It was a fantastic display of dunking by Vince Carter, who won the contest, Tracy McGrady, and Steve Francis.