DeAndre Jordan Is the NBA’s Most Savage Dunker

Just watch him obliterate the defense in Wednesday’s game.

“Best” isn’t a very useful word when you’re talking about dunks. It’s too vague, too subjective. That’s why we won’t use it in this discussion of DeAndre Jordan, whose always been better described by words like “vicious,” “perverse,” and “homicidal.”

Jordan might not be the league’s “best” dunker, whatever that really means, but there’s little debate that he’s the most savage slammer of ball through basket in today’s NBA. Here he is on Wednesday proving that once again by giving Milwaukee Bucks player Greg Monroe a knee to the face:

This tomahawk has so many hallmarks of a great DJ dunk—the force, the height and the shattered soul of a now-deceased opponent. There aren’t many other players who can dunk like this. And yes, it’s a dunk; we’ve got no patience for the truthers who need a hand to touch rim for label to apply.

In a game full of freak athletes, Jordan is among the freakiest. He’s an agile 6’11” with arms like an inflatable tube man. And when he catches a lob at full stretch and brings that tiny tangerine down with the power of Mjölnir, it’s a sight to behold.

If one word describes Jordan’s dunks, it’s savage. What makes them pleasant is just how unpleasant they are. They’re unadulterated brutality channeled into a singular mission: the destruction of all that lies beneath. Save your between-the-leg dunks for All-Star Weekend. In-game jams are most memorable when they’re thunderous displays power that make your face do this.

Photos by Gary Dineen / Getty Images