15 best NBA moments from 2016
By Adam McGee
6. The return of the Dunk Contest
By the time All-Star Weekend in Toronto rolled around in February, it would seem fair to say that a kind of Dunk Contest fatigue had long since settled in among many who closely follow the NBA.
It wasn’t necessarily that the Dunk Contest had changed, but at the very least the general NBA viewing public had become somewhat spoilt by the quality of dunks they were now getting to witness in-game on a nightly basis.
With the league’s top players more athletic than ever, some of what was once spectacular had become mundane when showcased at All-Star Weekend. Instead of working toward creating more creative and audacious technical dunks, the reliance on gimmicks and props had made the format seem stale. Then Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon came along.
LaVine and Gordon duked it out in a battle of originality, flexibility and explosiveness that at one stage seemed as if it would be deadlocked long into the night. Ultimately, after a number of matching perfect scores, LaVine prevailed to win the event for the second year running.
With valid arguments to be made for a Gordon win or even a tie, the 2016 Dunk Contest not only sparked more debate than it had in years, but it also created a rivalry that NBA fans would love to see revisited in 2017.