8. Jason Richardson (2003)
Richardson’s three-year run from 2002 to 2004 has gotten a little lost in the shuffle when it comes to the history of the Slam Dunk Contest. The stretch deserves to be recognized along with the greatest performances of all-time. We say the package he put together in 2003 is tops of the bunch.
While we’re on the subject, we’re limiting players to one appearance on this list. So you won’t see multiple entries for any of our choices. Some of the all-time greats made it seriously hard to choose just a single performance, but we did the hard work (of watching YouTube videos on repeat) to make sure we got it (subjectively) right.
As Richardson prepared for his first dunk of the evening, the commentators calmly compared him to Dominique Wilkins as a powerful, two-foot jumping dunk machine. The proverbial calm before the storm was broken very quickly by Richardson’s first attempt, a thunderous windmill finish sparked by a self-alley-oop and two-foot leap that brings his face to rim level. The judges chastised him a bit for returning to a dunk he performed the previous year, but his efforts earned him a perfect score of 50 from the judges nonetheless.
While only needing to earn a score of 29 for his second dunk, Richardson eschewed any sense of conservativism and pulled out another two-foot-jumping self-alley-oop, this time twisting 360 degrees and cocking the ball down to his hip before slamming it home. Throwing caution to the wind and choosing to put on a show instead of taking the safe route is fundamental to an all-time great Dunk Contest performance. Richardson’s bold attempt earned his second perfect score of the evening.
Richardson’s third dunk of the contest was his lowest scoring dunk of the evening. Another bouncing, self-alley-oop which he grabbed off a two-foot leap, cocked between his legs, and reverse-finished. He reached out-of-the-building type height on his jump, but the attempt left the judges, and commentators with a “we’ve seen it before” feeling.
Going into his final attempt Richardson would need a near-perfect score of 49 to pull off the win. The commentators remarked that he might need to pull out something they’d never seen before in order to emerge victoriously. J-Rich does not disappoint.
Richardson attacks from the baseline with another throw-in-the-air, bouncing, self-alley-oop. Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley openly questioned the tactic on his approach, mentioning the method had been seen before. The two-time slam dunk champion immediately reduced their disapproval to delighted screams of joy when he grabbed the ball in the air with his right hand, brought it between his legs, and slammed it through with his left.
“I’ve seen something I’ve never seen before” Kenny the Jet screamed as players previously watching from the sidelines stormed the floor in celebration. Michael Jordan himself was caught, mouth agape, admiring the replay on the arena’s Jumbotron. There’s no higher praise in dunking than reducing Jordan himself to a speechless, smiling fan.