Julius Erving spoke in an interview with Rob Lepelstat of Clutch Points recently. They discussed his time in the ABA when he played for the Nets and took part in the 1976 ABA All-Star game, where he performed a dunk from the free-throw line. Erving claimed that he pulled off the dunk before Michael Jordan did at the 1988 NBA All-Star game.
“Done this many times before. Usually after giving a camp or a clinic, talking to kids, usually outside on cement. So now, to be in a gym with the crowd that they had in Denver at the time, and to be on a wooden floor, I knew it was going to be alright.”
“They had required that, it was a mark about three or four feet away from the basket – perform a dunk from behind that line… I thought ‘I’m going to exaggerate what they asked for, and give them a show. George Gervin, Larry Kenon, and myself, we always talked about giving the fans a good show…”
“Since I had been the one who inspired him, and also ushered him to do that, because I was there at that competition with me and Dominique [Wilkins], he looked over at me, because I was courtside. I started pointing ‘Go back, go back!’.”
“Then he hopped, did a little Jordan-esque thing to it, and jammed it in. His was probably a greater degree of difficulty, but since mine was so much earlier, only one guy can be the first.”
NBA legend Julius Erving compares his original free throw line dunk from the 1976 ABA Dunk Contest to Michael Jordan's iconic free throw dunk in the 1988 NBA Dunk Contest:
"He did a little Jordan-esque thing to it and jammed it in… but since mine was so much earlier, only one… pic.twitter.com/j6i2hFSpG3
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 11, 2024
This isn’t the first time Erving has told this story, and his performance at the first-ever dunk contest is the stuff of legend. And in fairness to Erving, he is being honest about historically being the first to perform a dunk while leaping from the free-throw line. Jordan also credited Dr. J for the inspiration.
Michael Jordan Was Inspired By Dr. J’s Dunk
As he mentioned in the interview, Dr. J had a front-row seat for Michael Jordan’s free-throw line dunk. And upon prompting him to try the dunk from the free-throw line, Jordan was able to perform what many consider to be one of the greatest dunks of all time from the free-throw line.
In fact, the dunk became so iconic that Jordan decided to use the silhouette from the incredible image still as the logo for his brand. Now, anyone who buys a product from the Jordan brand, even if they don’t know a thing about basketball, knows the silhouette, and know what the dunk looks like.
Jordan won the dunk contest in 1988, after a heated battle with Dominique Wilkins. The fact that he won a dunk contest, with perhaps the most iconic dunk in the history of the tournament, along with getting the iconic silhouette for his brand, it might be the biggest non-championship win of MJ’s career.
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