DeAndre Jordan's Perfect Free Throw Streak Breaker
The highest-percentage shot in basketball, born from a roll in coffee.
The slam dunk is a type of basketball shot worth two points, performed by jumping and shoving the ball through the basket with one or both hands. It is usually the highest percentage shot and a crowd-pleaser.
Quick Facts
- Player
- DeAndre Jordan
- Team
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Role
- Starting Center; Defensive Anchor
- Era nickname
- Lob City
Lore & Background
The term 'slam dunk' was coined by former Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn. The first NBA Slam Dunk Contest was held in 1984; the 1976 event was an ABA contest, not NBA. Dunking was banned in the NCAA and high school sports from 1967 to 1976, a period sometimes called the 'Lew Alcindor rule.'
Reader's Guide
A slam dunk is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and shoves the ball directly through the basket with either one or both hands. It is a type of field goal worth two points.
Did You Know?
- Joe Fortenberry dunked the ball in 1936 in Madison Square Garden, and the feat was described as 'pitching the ball downward into the hoop, much like a cafeteria customer dunking a roll in coffee.'
- Wilt Chamberlain played in the NBA from 1959 onward; the rule requiring both feet behind the free-throw line was already in place before his career.
- The breakaway rim was introduced to the NBA in 1981, making dunking safer by reducing shattered backboards.
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