Andre Iguodala is NBA's oldest dunker for third straight year
Two weeks shy of his 39th birthday, Andre Iguodala is slowing down, but he's still throwing it down.
Iguodala is the NBA's second-oldest player, behind Miami's Udonis Haslem. He isn't letting his age stop him from dunking, but his age seems to be making his landings more awkward.
In his three games since returning from injury last week, Iguodala has dunked twice. Of his four field-goal attempts, two have been three-pointers and two have been dunks, including a putback slam Tuesday night in front of owner Joe Lacob and 49ers star Deebo Samuel.
It's the third year that Iguodala has been the league's oldest dunker. Haslem is three years older than him, but hasn't dunked since the 2018-19 season. Last year, Iguodala was also the second-oldest player, and dunked 17 times. In 2020-21, Iguodala's old teammate Anderson Varejao returned to play five games with Cleveland at age 38. He only made four baskets, and none of them were dunks. Meanwhile, Iguodala dunked 17 times that year too.
Not since 43-year-old Vince Carter threw down two dunks in the 2019-20 season has Iguodala not been the league's oldest dunker. Iguodala is retiring after this season, so he won't match Carter's feat of dunking on his 43rd birthday.
Who was the oldest dunker in NBA history? We are going to assume that 45-year-old Nat Hickey did not dunk for the Providence Steamrollers in 1948. We know 44-year-old Kevin Willis did not dunk in his final season. The third-oldest player in history, Robert Parish, dunked seven times in 1996-7 for the Chicago Bulls, the oldest man to throw down in an NBA game.
Next year, Iguodala should pass the torch to a worthy successor as oldest NBA dunker: 38-year-old LeBron James.
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