Ranking the 11 best NBA dunkers of the 21st century, including a high-flying Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin’s retirement on Tuesday sparked an interesting conversation around these parts. If Griffin is (clearly) one of the best modern NBA dunkers, who else shares such company with him?

In this young century, we have been blessed with some of the greatest, more vicious showmen at the rim that the NBA has ever seen. It’s only fair to properly contextualize who belongs where and why with a totally scientific ranking of the best dunkers in the new millennium. Because this new generation of NBAers knows exactly what it wants to do when it has a full head of steam.

For posterity, this list takes everything into account. In-game dunkers. Out-of-game dunkers. Both. A flair for creativity. A drive to dunk as much as possible. We’ve got every high-flying flavor of the month accounted for here. Let’s dive in.