Miami’s Keshad Johnson won the 2026 NBA Slam Dunk contest, anti-climactically outlasting Carter Bryant, who nearly ran out of time on his final dunk after scoring a perfect score to open the finals.
Bryant, needing a 47.6 to win the contest, nearly failed to make a dunk in the 90-second period. He repeatedly missed a dunk where he attempted to put the ball between his legs before throwing himself an off-the-backboard lob. He wasted precious time talking to NBC analyst Vince Carter before missing again, forcing him to rush a final, underwhelming dunk so he could avoid being shut out.
Johnson tried to bring energy throughout the contest, dancing before and after his dunks. He put the ball between his legs off a lob to start the finals and capped his competition with a one-handed slam from inside the free-throw line.
Bryant scored the only perfect 50 with his first dunk of the finals, an off-the-bounce lob that he caught before putting the ball between his legs during a windmill dunk.
The San Antonio Spurs rookie opened the contest, entering the floor through the smoky locker-room tunnel and connecting on his first dunk — a baseline 360-degree windmill dunk.
RUNNING WINDMILL JAM FOR THE WIN!
Keshad Johnson is your 2026 @ATT Slam Dunk Champion 🏆 pic.twitter.com/jAhyHzesvr
— NBA (@NBA) February 15, 2026
Johnson hit the court with E-40, jumping and dunking over the rapper while posing for the cameras.
Bryant won the first round with the first perfect 50 of the game, his powerful lob and one-handed windmill earning 50-point scores from Dwight Howard and Dominique Wilkins. Johnson cemented his spot in the finals with a baseline reverse dunk to move him into the finals.
Orlando Magic rookie Jase Richardson, the son of former NBA dunk champ Jason Richardson, followed Bryant and also made his first attempt — a two-handed reverse windmill off a bounced lob he threw himself. Richardson, the shortest competitor in the contest, took a nasty fall attempting a 360 lob on his second attempt. He avoided injury and completed a two-handed 360 before getting eliminated.
Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxson Hayes seemingly missed his mark and ran past the free-throw line before a simple one-handed dunk ended the first stretch of dunks. On his second dunk, Hayes started by lobbing the ball and tapping it to himself before he put it underneath his leg on the way to the dunk. It was his highest-scored dunk in the first round, but not good enough to move him into the finals.