LeBron James Continues to Assert NBA Dunking Superiority Without Needing the Slam Dunk Contest

LeBron James is the best dunker in the NBA. The Miami Heat star seems to be having some fun with folks who wish he’d — just once — participate in the Slam Dunk Contest. Monday video emerged from the Phoenix Suns practice facility with James putting on a show, including throwing a basketball like a baseball off the back wall of the gym before slamming it home, likely putting anything that happens this weekend in New Orleans to shame.

Tuesday night James threw down a vintage, NBA Jam-worthy windmill slam against the Suns, again toying with the notion of participating the Slam Dunk Contest. He’s declined to participate in each of his 11 NBA seasons.

Call it a hunch, but LeBron dunking with this level of athleticism and ferocity in an actual regulation NBA game is a better test of someone’s prowess than dunking over a Kia hatchback. Also going out on a limb: LeBron doesn’t need his name listed on a Wikipedia page next to the likes of Jeremy Evans or Terrance Ross to validate his dunking superiority.

Say what you will about the Dunk Contest, once upon a time it meant something, granted it was a time when people still relied on VHS tapes to consume highlights. When Michael Jordan an Dominique Wilkins waged a war of dunks every year back in the 80s, yeah, that was cool. Once Brent Barry won the dunk contest wearing a baggy track jacket the event lost most — if not all — of its luster. Somehow the immortal Dee Brown won the contest in 1991 putting his forearm over his eyes and dunking. Watch it again if you haven’t in a couple years, this dunk won an NBA Slam Dunk contest:

At this point there’s no incentive for LeBron to enter the dunk contest … unless he really wants to put on a show and have one of those “Drops Mic” moments, laying waste to the competition to officially prove his dunking superiority. LeBron James Continues to Assert NBA Dunking Superiority without Bothering with the Slam Dunk Contest