This year marks the 25th anniversary of the inception of the NBA All-Star Dunk Contest. And while we've seen some sporadic greatness from big time players in the last decade plus, like Kobe in '97, Vince Carter in 2000, and Dwight Howard last year, you'd be hard pressed to say that the dunk contest has really pushed the envelope in terms of epic matchups. I mean, let's be honest, this year's group of Dwight Howard, Nate Robinson, JR Smith and Rudy Fernandez - even though it has two champions in it - just doesn't quite reach expectations. Sure some of the dunks will be pretty sick, but it's more spectacle now, rather than a real competition. Most guys these days, even the champions, are one and done.

But back in the 1980s, the dunk contest really did matter. How else do explain guys like Michael Jordan, Dominque Wilkins, Dr. J, Larry Nance, the perennially underappreciated Terrence Stansbury, Spud Webb, Clyde Drexler, Kenny "Sky" Walker, competing year after year after year against each other. It was a real test of who was the greatest. So let's look back at the dunk contests of the 1980s, when it was at its peak.




1984: This was the inaugural NBA dunk contest, and most people remember it as the dunk contest where the aging Dr. J managed to dig out his classic 1976 ABA Dunk Contest free throw line dunk. But Dr. J didn't even wind up winning the contest (he never would in the NBA). Instead it was Larry Lance. Also, pay close attention to the fact that Nance was in fact the person ever to do the famous "rock the cradle" dunk in the dunk contest, the dunk that ultimately came to be associated with Michael Jordan.




1985: This was Dominque Wilkins' first victory in the slam dunk contest, which also featured the first Wilkins/MJ head-to-head battle. But it's really the sheer talent in this contest that was so ridiculous. This dunk contest featured Wilkins, MJ, Dr. J, Larry Nance AND Terrance Stansbury, who delivered the classic Statue of Liberty dunk. Just a ludicrously loaded dunk contest.




1986: Maybe the single most impressive dunk contest of all time, as 5'7" inch Spud Webb managed to beat Wilkins and Stansbury.