Has a Cleveland Cavaliers player won the Slam Dunk Contest?

Cleveland Cavaliers big man Larry Nance Jr. dunks the ball in the 2018 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest, while wearing the prior Phoenix Suns jersey of his father, Larry Nance. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Cleveland Cavaliers big man Larry Nance Jr. dunks the ball in the 2018 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest, while wearing the prior Phoenix Suns jersey of his father, Larry Nance. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
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The NBA All-Star Weekend is far from a single game or event, but rather a three-day extravagant affair where many of the NBA’s luminaries from past and present gather together to celebrate the game of basketball. While the Sunday All-Star Game features the biggest stars, the NBA Slam Dunk Contest has historically been the most dynamic event.

For fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers waiting for Sunday’s All-Star Game to see Donovan Mitchell suit up, the question will likely rise to the surface: has a Cleveland Cavaliers player ever won the Slam Dunk Contest?

Has a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers ever won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest?

The shine of the Slam Dunk Contest has waned a bit in recent years, as the event has transitioned from an athletic showdown between some of the best players in the league to a miss-ridden over-scored competition between NBA fringe players.

That has never been more true than this season, when a recent 10-day signing of Mac McClung by the Philadelphia 76ers just barely averted a G League player participating in the event. He will be joined by the a third-string center (Jericho Sims), a reserve forward on the league’s worst team (Kenyon Martin Jr.) and a 3-and-D wing in Trey Murphy III trying to carry the name-recognition flag for this lackluster group.

That isn’t to say this group of players aren’t hyper-athletic or good pure dunkers, but the star power of the event has evaporated. Many will tune in because there isn’t another pro basketball game on to watch, but many others will keep their televisions turned off.

Even so, the Dunk Contest can be a lot of fun, and it has a long history of dynamic showdowns, dating back to showdowns between David “Skywalker” Thompson, Dr. J, Clyde Drexler, Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan and Vince Carter.

But has a member of the Cavaliers won before? The answer is no….and yes….and almost.

A player has never won the Slam Dunk Contest while on the Cleveland Cavaliers

To get down to the brass tacks, no current player on the Cleveland Cavaliers has ever won the Slam Dunk Contest. With that being said, two Cavs stars have won the contest while playing for previous teams.

Larry Nance Sr. won the very first NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 1984 in Denver, Colorado. The American Basketball Association (ABA) had introduced the idea years before, but the first post-merger event went down in 1984, and it was a loaded field. Nance, then playing for the Phoenix Suns, took down Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, Ralph Sampson and Dominique Wilkins, among others.

Nance would be traded to the Cavaliers a few seasons later and become one of the most beloved players in franchise history.

The other Cavaliers star to win the Dunk Contest was Donovan Mitchell. Back in 2018, Mitchell competed in the competition as a rookie in Los Angeles. The Utah Jazz guard was a rising star even as a rookie, and he rode that star power to the title despite another player arguably pulling off a better set of dunks.

That other player? Larry Nance Jr. of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nance Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps in competing in the event, and he and Mitchell showed down in the Finals before Mitchell ultimately won. The most poignant of Nance’s dunks was his tribute to his father’s 1984 dunk:

Other Cavaliers players to participate in the contest include Roy Hinson (1986), Ron Harper (1987 and 1989) and Bob Sura (1997). From 1997 to Nance in 2018 not a single Cavaliers players took part in the competition.

Who on the Cavaliers roster has the best chance to be in a Slam Dunk Contest?

Given the trend of star players sitting this competition out, it seems unlikely Donovan Mitchell would ever come back to defend his title. With that being said, perhaps a “Tournament of Champions” could be drummed up, with players like Zach LaVine and Mitchell returning to compete.

From the rest of the roster, the Cavs aren’t exactly flush with high-flying athletes. Evan Mobley is an excellent in-game dunker, as is Jarrett Allen, but neither are the sky-walking Dunk Contest types. Most of the rest of the lineup is made up of below-the-rim athletes. Could you imagine Robin Lopez in the Dunk Contest?

The answer is probably Lamar Stevens. He has enough bounce to entertain the possibility of some creative dunks, and his sheer power at the rim could be impressive enough to draw some credit. Still, the Cavs are much more likely to put multiple players in the Sunday main event than see a current player make it to the Slam Dunk Contest.

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Did you remember Larry Nance and Donovan Mitchell winning the event? Were you cheering on Larry Nance Jr. in 2018? Any Roy Hinson fans out there? The Cavaliers haven’t been much for Slam Dunk Contests, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun to watch.