Most Iconic Warriors Dunk Tournament

The question is simple: What is the most iconic Warriors dunk?

To settle this extremely important matter, we will have a straight single elimination bracket tournament. You might say, wait isn’t this just an excuse to rewatch fantastic dunks? Of course not, this is purely for science.

DNHQ commenters nominated a number of dunks. I filtered out 16 based on whether I could find an official NBA or ESPN YouTube video about the play. The reasoning is simple: How iconic can a play be if it doesn’t have its own video?

I considered determining the seeding using the same strategy as NCAA March Madness Committees — “pulling it out of my butt” — but I opted to seed the plays based on the number of views the official video had. Humans must make the final decision. Humans like you.

I suggest for this very scientific process that you carefully view each dunk and put the volume on loud.

#6 Bogut on Javale

#11 Klay's first dunk back

Vote

To vote, you can use the Substack poll here or write a comment including exactly one hashtag #SIX or #ELEVEN. Comment votes with explanation are worth 10 poll votes.

Results of Last Vote

The weighted results of last vote.

• 97% - #7 Wiggins on Doncic

• 3% - #10 Wiggins on Clarke

#7 moves on with a landslide victory, but with much love and appreciation for #10 which, with a different bracket, might have gone further in the tournament.

That Clarke dunk was massive, against the biggest threat to GSW, against a more obnoxious team, against a better defender in better position, in a closer game and made a grittier, louder sound.

But the Luka dunk had the flop, the foul, the review and reversal. It was against the star and soul of the other team and just FELT like it ended the whole series. And I’m guessing now and in the future if you say, “remember that Wiggins dunk in the playoffs”, this is what people think of.

In fact we are not done with the Wiggins dunks in the tournament, and he made them all in an 8 month span…

Iconic Warriors Dunk Tournament: #7 Wiggins…

A tough matchup

• inkatouring (11 ♡):

  #SEVEN. Honestly, the dunk on Clarke is more impressive. But the question was iconic, not best or impressive. And I was taught from SAT prep forward to answer the question that was asked, not the one you want to answer.

  Iconic: yes, Luka dunk is more so. I hardly remember the Clarke one and the Luka dunk was (pun intended) postered all over the place, rerun over and over. Plus, the egregious flop, the offensive foul call, the review and reversal. It all just adds up to more iconic!

• Nellie (8 ♡):

  Guess I'm all alone, but I vote #TEN. The fact that it came in a loss is a huge demerit, obviously, but I love every single other thing about it. The hang time. The two-handed ferocity. The way he has to cock it back in mid air to avoid a pretty good contest by Clarke (who ends up on the ground by legitimate means—not a flop!). And above all the fact that that it came against the Grizzlies, about twelve game-clock minutes after Dillon Brooks's dirty foul on Payton.

  The last point really can't be overstated, in my opinion. We still didn't know at this point what kind of competitor Wiggins would prove to be on the biggest stage. To unleash that dunk in that context was, in retrospect, a watershed moment for him.

• GlennR (5 ♡):

  WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!?

  #SEVEN

• mDuo13 (5 ♡):

  This one is easy at least. #SEVEN for allll the reasons.

  - The moment: conference finals, 4th quarter of a relatively close game.

  - The defender: a guy widely expected to be MVP and face of the league very soon

  - The dunk itself: insane hangtime, windup, and force

  That dunk is getting a shrine and will live forever in the minds of basketball fans who watched that series.

  Meanwhile, the other one is certainly a good dunk, but it's also by Wiggins, and I didn't remember that it even happened specifically. If I forgot it, it's not iconic.

• Five Alarm Freddy (5 ♡):

  HOW COULD YOU!! I thought the Doncic Dunk was an easy cakewalk, but my God that Clarke dunk was nasty.

  It's like which kid do I love more??

  If I have to chose it is still Wiggins on Doncic because that was so iconic. I almost dropped a baby when I watched it.

  #SEVEN it is (I still love you though number 10)