The Cavs’ random dunk contest was better than most at NBA All-Star Weekend

The NBA Dunk Contest has fallen on hard times in recent years, save for a few notable exceptions. The biggest issue for the annual event held at the NBA All-Star Game has always been the lack of starpower: the days of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Vince Carter doing the dunk contest are long gone; these days, the league has to resort to pulling Mac McClung out of the G League just to put on a show.

The 2025 NBA Dunk Contest participants have been announced, and it might be the weakest field ever in terms of name recognition.

As the dunk contest remains in crisis, the Cleveland Cavaliers showed us the art of dunking isn’t dead yet. The organization held a halftime dunk contest with two participants during their game against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night, and it resulted in better dunks than we usually see in the All-Star Game dunk contest.

Cleveland brought out two professional dunkers named Jonathan and Miller. With Cleveland legends Campy Russell and Larry Nance acting as the judges, these two dunkers gave the fans a show. Watch the Cavs’ dunk contest here.

These dunks just get better and better as they go on. The last dunks from each of these dudes are legitimately as good or better than anything we’ve seen in the real dunk contest over the last two or three years.

I always love a reverse spin 360 with a blind throwdown. This is so hard to pull off, and he nailed it.

Well, the next dunker topped it. The man going by “Miller Dunks” lobbed the ball to himself off a high bounce, put it between his legs, and dunked it reverse with one hand.

This is incredible!

Maybe the dunk contest doesn’t need superstars after all? Some creative dunks will do. Let’s see if McClung, Matas Buzelis, Stephon Castle, and Andre Jackson Jr. can top two random guys at the Cavs game, because they gave us a great show.