Top 5 NBA Dunkers In The Game Today

Every sport has their "WOW" type of play.  Baseball is the home run, football is the blistering hit, and hockey is the breakaway goal.  Some of these are better than others but none come close to the NBA's dunk.  A simple, quick, one second play that brings creativity, athletic ability, and outright absurdness to any game.  It can quite an entire crowd or electrify an entire city.  There's an entire contest devoted strictly to it and people have made careers off of it.  There's no denying that the dunk is arguably the most "wow" play in all of pro sports.  However, amongst all the players who can throw-it-down, there lies five players in the game today who define the the word and art of dunking.  Counting down, here are the top 5 in the NBA today.

5. Russel Westbrook

The 3rd year point guard out of UCLA has recently been known for running the offense of the young and talented Oklahoma City Thunder, along side arguably the best player in the game Kevin Durant.  However, Westbrook (only 6 feet 3 inches tall) has also become one of the most fierce dunkers in the game. A mixture of hops and creativity has separated himself from most of the NBA dunkers.

4. Shannon Brown

Brown made a name for himself throwing down jaw dropping dunks while at Michigan State but didn't emerge on the NBA scene until recently with the LA Lakers.  During his first couple years in the league, Brown spent most of his time playing clean up minutes.  Once being traded to the Lakers in 2009, Brown began earning quality minutes off the bench and with that he put his name on the map as one of the leagues elite dunkers.  Some of his dunks make you question if he Brown thinks he actually can fly.

3. LeBron James

LeBron James or 'The King' may have attracted some enemies during his departure to Miami, but one thing remains true, the guy can throw it down.  James' signature dunk is the "tomahawk jam" which normally seems like a routine dunk by others, however, James throws it done with so much authority that you sometimes wonder if the rim will come down with him too.  His size and agility makes him one of the few players in NBA history who can smoothly maneuver around players like a butterfly but then throw down a haymaker dunk like a gorilla.

2. Nate Robinson

Nasty Nate might not always throw down the craziest 360 or windmill dunk but the mere fact that he can slam it is pretty amazing in itself.  Standing at only 5 feet 9 inches, Robinson's hops are freakish.  His ability to fly over people, literally fly, makes you wonder if he's got jet packs attached to his shoes.  

1. Blake Griffin

Griffin made it pretty clear back at Oklahoma that he knew the art of dunking pretty well, however, after being on the bench due to injury for the entire 2010 NBA season, many forgot what he was capable of.  In his first year playing in the NBA, Griffin has provided more insane dunkage that the majority of NBA players accumulate in an entire career.  It's truly impossible to put in words what Griffin does as a dunker.  It often time seems like the rim is not high enough for Griffin.