NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Slam Dunk Contest

Award details
Sport	NBA basketball
History
First award	Larry Nance, 1984
Most wins	Nate Robinson: 3 times
Most recent	Glenn Robinson III
Past winners 1984 Larry Nance 1985 Dominique Wilkins 1986 Spud Webb 1987 Michael Jordan 1988 Michael Jordan 1989 Kenny Walker 1990 Dominique Wilkins 1991 Dee Brown 1992 Cedric Ceballos 1993 Harold Miner 1994 Isaiah Rider 1995 Harold Miner 1996 Brent Barry 1997 Kobe Bryant 1998 No contest held 1999 NBA Lockout 2000 Vince Carter 2001 Desmond Mason 2002 Jason Richardson 2003 Jason Richardson 2004 Fred Jones 2005 Josh Smith 2006 Nate Robinson 2007 Gerald Green 2008 Dwight Howard 2009 Nate Robinson 2010 Nate Robinson 2011 Blake Griffin 2012 Jeremy Evans 2013 Terrence Ross 2014 John Wall 2015 Zach LaVine 2016 Zach LaVine 2017 Glenn Robinson III

Past winners

1984 Larry Nance 1985 Dominique Wilkins 1986 Spud Webb 1987 Michael Jordan 1988 Michael Jordan 1989 Kenny Walker 1990 Dominique Wilkins 1991 Dee Brown 1992 Cedric Ceballos 1993 Harold Miner 1994 Isaiah Rider 1995 Harold Miner 1996 Brent Barry 1997 Kobe Bryant 1998 No contest held 1999 NBA Lockout 2000 Vince Carter 2001 Desmond Mason 2002 Jason Richardson 2003 Jason Richardson 2004 Fred Jones 2005 Josh Smith 2006 Nate Robinson 2007 Gerald Green 2008 Dwight Howard 2009 Nate Robinson 2010 Nate Robinson 2011 Blake Griffin 2012 Jeremy Evans 2013 Terrence Ross 2014 John Wall 2015 Zach LaVine 2016 Zach LaVine 2017 Glenn Robinson III

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest (officially known as the Verizon Slam Dunk for sponsorship reasons) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend. The contest was inaugurated by the American Basketball Association (ABA) at its All-Star Game in 1976 in Denver, the same year the slam dunk was legalized in the NCAA. As a result of the ABA–NBA merger later that year there would not be another slam dunk contest at the professional level until 1984. The contest has adopted several formats over the years, including, until 2014, the use of fan voting, via text-messaging, to determine the winner of the final round.

The very first slam dunk contest was won by Julius Erving of the Nets at the 1976 ABA All-Star Game. The current champion of the NBA Dunk Contest is Glenn Robinson III of the Indiana Pacers.

On January 27, 1976 at McNichols Sports Arena during halftime of the 1976 ABA All Star Game the first-ever Slam Dunk Contest was held, which was won by Julius Erving of the New York Nets over David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets, Artis Gilmore of the Kentucky Colonels, and George Gervin and Larry Kenon of the San Antonio Spurs. There was a format each competitor had to follow in which they must attempt 5 dunks in a row under two minutes. One from a standing position, one from a distance of ten feet away from the basket (which is basically the bottom of the semi circle that surrounds the free throw line in the Key. The next 3 were freelance positions, one coming in from the left side of the basket, one coming in from the right side of the basket and finally from either corner down the baseline to the basket. They were judged on artistic ability, imagination, body flow as well as fan response.

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