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Nothing gets an NBA crowd riled up more than seeing someone “jump out of the gym” in the middle of a game. At the same time, it's easy to dunk the ball on a 10-foot rim if you're 7 feet tall. So, you can only imagine the crowd's excitement when someone 2 feet shorter pulled off the same dunk.
The average height of an NBA player during the 2024-25 season was 6-foot-7. It would be a shame if players these tall finished fast breaks with a layup when history shows players way shorter than them could defy gravity with thunderous dunks.
5. Allen Iverson (6'0″)
While most people will remember Iverson for his killer crossover and ability to score, Iverson's hops were an underrated facet of his game when he first entered the NBA. After all, when you have a 41-inch vertical and entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick, you have to show off the full repertoire.
Through his first two seasons, Iverson attempted 75 dunks which accounted for 2.5 percent of his shots. From there though, Iverson would only dunk the ball 59 times in an NBA game.
His last dunk would come in the 2007-08 season when he was a member of the Denver Nuggets.
4. Will Bynum (6'0″)
Like Iverson, Will Bynum also showed his explosiveness while standing 6 feet tall. More known for his basketball achievements overseas, one thing Bynum was able to do from time to time while in the NBA was dunk the ball.
He played for three teams over his career, with six of those years spent with the Detroit Pistons. In the eight seasons he played, Bynum managed to dunk the ball 14 times of the 6,611 shots he attempted.
3. Ty Lawson (5'11”)
Ty Lawson had a very promising start to his NBA career. He was the starting point guard for the Nuggets for six years and once finished a season averaging 17.6 points, 8.8 assists, and 1.6 steals.
However, once he was traded to the Houston Rockets, Lawson's career fell off the rails. He was suspended twice in the same season for DUI and was waived before the end of the season.
Lawson managed to play eight campaigns in the NBA for four different teams. Of the 5,424 shots he took during his career, Lawson managed to dunk the ball 11 times.
The last time he dunked the ball in an NBA game was during the 2014-15 season.
2. Nate Robinson (5'9″)
If you've been a basketball fan for more than a decade, this one doesn't come as a surprise. Nate Robinson was a three-time slam dunk champion and was a serviceable backup point guard in his 11 years in the NBA.
Surprisingly, Robinson attempted just 26 dunks over the 5,811 shots he attempted. The last time he dunked in a game was in 2014 as a member of the Nuggets.
1. Spud Webb (5'6″)
Webb made history in 1986 for being the shortest player to win a slam dunk contest (a record that stands to this day). Stats can't show the exact number of times Webb dunked in an actual game, but you know he had to have a few. After all, if you manage to stick around the league for 12 years and play over 800 games, you have to do a lot of things right.
Webb didn't have a lot of accolades in his career, but his efforts were enough for him to change the narrative that aspiring hoopers under 6 feet could still have a future in the NBA.
