There’s no event in high school basketball that propels players from elite status to household names as instantly as the Sprite Jam Fest — the annual prelude to the McDonald’s All American Games.
From LeBron James to Vince Carter to Candace Parker, high school stars have put on aerial displays that set the stage for their future stardom in the NBA and WNBA.
On Monday, the next batch of stars will lace ’em up at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
In anticipation of the mind-boggling high-wire acts, we zeroed in on some of the top moments from the prestigious event over the years.
1995, St. Louis
Vince Carter put the world on notice for what was to come, gliding through the air and throwing down creative dunk after creative dunk to edge out future Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Pierce. Carter went on to win the NBA dunk contest in 2000 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest sky walkers the game has ever seen.
2002, New York
Carmelo Anthony won a duel with Amar’e Stoudemire when he took off from about a foot in front of the free-throw line and threw down a strong one-hander. Stoudemire tried to one-up Anthony and take off from the actual free-throw line but missed the dunk, giving the future 10-time NBA All Star the hardware.
2003, Cleveland
One could argue that all the criticism LeBron James has caught throughout his career for never participating in an NBA dunk contest is rooted in the excitement after his performance in his one and only dunk contest in Cleveland. The 18-year-old heir apparent rocked the rim with cock-back slams and windmills, taking out J.R. Giddens and Shannon Brown in front of what was basically his hometown crowd.
2004, Oklahoma City
Candace Parker tactically dismantled the competition to become the first woman to win the dunk contest, taking out high flyers like Josh Smith, Rudy Gay and J.R. Smith. All three went on to participate in the NBA dunk contest, which Smith won the following year. Parker’s best dunk came when she covered her eyes with her left arm and threw down a vicious slam with her right.
Since Parker’s win, Ashlyn Watkins and Fran Belibi are the other two women that took home the crown.
2007, Louisville
Even as a high school senior, Blake Griffin was loosening the hinges on rims by throwing down his trademark monster dunks. Griffin dazzled the crowd with an off-the-backboard windmill and an off-the-bounce 360 dunk in the finals to knock off future NBA players like Patrick Patterson and Michael Beasley.
2008, Milwaukee
DeMar DeRozan owned the night, using his 38.5-inch vertical leap to throw down acrobatic dunks — a reverse Eastbay, a hanging windmill and a backboard tap ricochet dunk off the bounce that mesmerized the crowd and ultimately earned him the hardware.
2018, Atlanta
The buzz surrounding the dunk contest that year was deafening, because of Zion Williamson. The 6-foot-7 wing was a viral sensation over his last three years of high school, throwing down the most vicious dunks over and through defenders, while drawing crowds of thousands regularly. From his 360-windmill to cock-backs to his Eastbay off the glass, Williamson lived up to the lofty hype to take home the hardware.
