It made Julius Erving a household name. It turned Michael Jordan's image and turned it into a worldwide phenomenon. It helped define Blake Griffin as one of the game's most exciting players.
And now, one of the NBA's most famous pastimes will be coming to Houston during NBA All-Star Game Weekend next week.
The NBA announced Thursday the list of participants that will be flying above the rim and showcasing their most jaw-dropping, rim-rattling, gravity-defying dunks during the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, one of the festivities for the Feb. 15-17 weekend of the NBA All-Star Game.
The participants will be the Indiana Pacers Gerald Green, the Toronto Raptors' Terrence Ross, and the New York Knicks' James "Flight" White for the East and the Los Angeles Clippers Eric Bledsoe, the Utah Jazz's Jeremy Evans and the Denver Nuggets' Kenneth Faried for the West.
Evans is the defending champion from last year and Green won the contest in 2007, which means the game will feature some of the most dynamic young players doing their best tricks in arguably the most iconic and entertaining of the NBA's All-Star weekend contests.
Erving, known to hoops fans as "Dr. J," won the very first Slam Dunk Contest in 1976. Since the inception of the Slam Dunk Contest as a regular featured event of the All-Star Game in 1984, there have been 27 Slam Dunk champions, with some of the most famous names on that list including Jordan, Erving, Dominique Wilkins, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Josh Smith, Dwight Howard and Griffin.
Some of the most iconic moments of the Slam Dunk Contest include Erving's base-line dunk in 1976, Jordan's recreation of it in 1988, and Griffin dunking over a car in 2011.
Want to relive some of the greatest dunks from the NBA Slam Dunk Contest? Check out the video below:
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