Many people point to 2000 as the best NBA Slam Dunk Contest ever, and they have a strong case: Vince Carter threw down some of the most memorable dunks ever, surpassing dunks by Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady that were brilliant in their own right.
What might get forgotten is how important that night was to the legacy of the contest, which had become mediocre in the ‘90s and actually gotten canceled for a couple years. One might also overlook how excellent those overshadowed McGrady and Francis performances were, and also what a fraught moment it was for Carter’s team, which teetered perilously on an exciting young core with too much star power for one city. Find out more about the history of the Dunk Contest and about the early history of the Toronto Raptors in this episode of REWINDER, and check out more episodes of the series in our YouTube playlist.