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Ahead of the weekend’s All-Star activities — including the 2021 Slam Dunk contest, which came during halftime of the All-Star game and was won by Portland’s Anfernee Simons, in case anyone was wondering — ESPN contributors decided to get together and vote for the greatest dunker in the history of all 30 NBA franchises.
Depending on your age and/or when you became a Spurs fan, the results may or may not surprise you:
San Antonio Spurs: George Gervin 47.8%
The finger roll wasn’t the only thing Gervin could do. The “Iceman” competed in the ABA’s groundbreaking 1976 dunk contest — a windmill after taking off from the dotted line being the highlight of his performance. Gervin, often with a gold chain dangling on his neck, usually frustrated shot-blockers by floating that finger roll over them, but the lanky legend took off and punched it in plenty of times, too. — Tim MacMahon
Others receiving votes: Manu Ginobili 26.1%, David Robinson 21.7%, Johnny Dawkins 4.3%
I’ll admit, I wasn’t even two years old when Gervin retired, he’s primarily known for his finger role, and there’s only so many YouTube videos of him, so I’ll have to take their word for it. Manu Ginobili and David Robinson following up aren’t surprising, and my vote likely would have gone to the Admiral. (This is not to take credit away from Manu, as he could bang it home with the best of them and clearly had the most memorable dunk in franchise history, but it’s hard to ignore the athletic force Robinson was in his prime and how unstoppable he was in the paint.)
Who would you consider to be the Spurs greatest dunker of all time? Feel free to discuss that or any other random topic in in the comments below!
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