The Slam Dunk Contest is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend. The contest was inaugurated by the American Basketball Association (ABA) at its All-Star Game in 1976 in Denver, the same year the slam dunk was legalized in the NCAA. As a result of the ABA-NBA merger later that year there would not be another slam dunk contest at the professional level until 1984. The contest currently uses fan voting, via text-messaging, to determine the winner of the final round. The very first slam dunk contest was won by Julius Erving at the 1976 ABA All-Star Game. The current champion of the NBA Dunk Contest is Blake Griffin.
