Grizzlies' Ja Morant remains greatest almost-dunker in NBA history

Morant took off from deep in the key to deliver an emphatic, rim-rattling dunk late in the third quarter. It rattled the rim a little too much, bouncing off the back of the rim and ruining Morant's shot at the mythical Dunk of the Year title.

It's a typical non-highlight highlight from Morant, who is one of the NBA's best dunkers, but unquestionably the NBA's greatest almost-dunker. Morant is anything but conservative with his dunk attempts, willing to push his physical limits and the limits of, well, physics, in order to posterize his opponents.

Fans saw this early in his rookie season, when the Grizzlies star tried to dunk over Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers in a Dec. 19 game.

The dunk didn't go in, but the athleticism and sheer audacity of the play captivated fans. Even Love joked after the game that Morant had nearly "ended my professional career" if the dunk had gone in.

Morant's non-dunks are more watchable than the majority of other players' successful dunks. Like when he dunked on Victor Wembanyama earlier in 2025, but the basket came after the whistle had blown

Sometimes the dunks are memorable due to their oddness, like in October, when Morant threw down a reverse dunk, only to have the ball bounce off his head and back out of the hoop.

In January 2023, Morant tweeted "Jump with me if you want to go viral" after jamming on Indiana's Jalen Smith.

One month later, Joel Embiid embraced the challenge, blocking Morant as he was in the process of dunking over and through P.J. Tucker.

Morant is so prolific that there are highlight reels devoted to his spectacular misses. One from December 2022 contains 18 different spectacular misses, and Morant has only added to that portfolio in the two years since.

Why are Morant's misses so compelling? In part, it's due to his slight frame. Morant is listed at 6-foot-2, 174 pounds, giving up as many as 100 pounds to the players he's trying to dunk on. But it's mainly that in an NBA full of scheduled rest for injuries and efficiency-driven offenses, Morant is willing to risk injury and embarrassment for spectacular dunks.

Even if he probably should have laid the ball in on a few of these misses.