A look at Miles Bridges’ best dunks so far in his NBA career

By Chase Whitney

April 12, 2021

Photo: Nell Redmond / AP

What Miles Bridges did to Clint Capela on Sunday afternoon against the Hawks should be considered a crime. A lawyer could present an argument that Bridges violated Capela’s right to personal space by leaping from outside the restricted area, suspending himself in the air, and then slamming the ball so far back down into the hoop that it sent a shockwave.

That shockwave was felt far and wide on social media, as Bridges instantly went viral for one of the best dunks of the NBA season. He very well may have put a permanent stain on Capela’s career, much like Vince Carter did to Frederic Weis, Blake Griffin to Timofey Mozgov, DeAndre Jordan to Brandon Knight, and most recently, Anthony Edwards to poor Yuta Watanabe.

Naturally, the mind wonders where exactly Bridges’ most recent poster lands among the best dunks of his career. Well, wonder no more, because we’ve put together a list of the best jams of Bridges’ NBA career so far. 

Miles Bridges baptizes Clint Capela.

As mentioned before, this is probably the best dunk of the NBA season so far. The fact that Bridges is 6’6” and Capela is 6’10”, known for his elite rim protection, makes it all the better. The hang time that Bridges achieves while also physically moving Capela backwards in mid-air is astonishing. 

Bridges throws down Euro-step windmill in Summer League.

This was a very early introduction to Bridges as one of the NBA’s premier dunkers. In his second Las Vegas Summer League, he picked it up at half court and threw down the only Euro-step, left-handed windmill dunk that we’ve seen. It really can’t be overstated how rare his athletic ability is.

Bridges posterizes the Hawks, volume one. 

It appears that Bridges just really enjoys dunking on the Atlanta Hawks. What makes this one so great is he misses the corner three, stays alert, cuts off of the rebound from Willy Hernangomez, and then just detonates on the rim. His dunks are always so vicious.

Chris Boucher gets yammed on. 

How far Bridges cocks the ball back— basically to the point of touching his neck— is absurd. It shouldn’t be possible for a human being to hang in the air long enough to do that while dunking a basketball, but Bridges made it happen. 

Bridges crushes a windmill off of a behind the back pass from LaMelo Ball. 

The “AirBnB” connection missing in the second half of the season is the definition of cruel and unusual punishment, but at least we have highlights like this one to look back on. Dunks are always cooler when they come off of a nice pass, and Ball couldn’t have added more flair to this one. The whole arena knows Bridges is gonna punch it home with purpose when he gets set up like this. 

Right on Steven Adams’ head. 

Tip dunks like this one are so satisfying to watch; the hand-eye coordination required to slam it home in mid-air while the ball careens off the rim is next level. A good share of Bridges’ dunks come off of offensive rebounds, a testament to his energy on the boards. 

Bridges takes a look at the rim (second one at :18). 

Bridges’ eyes are nearly level with the rim, and he could barely extend his arms to finish the dunk because his shoulders were so high in the air. Words can’t express how cool it would feel to be able to jump that high. Bridges’ spectacular dunks against the Suns just add to his extensive catalog.

We could make a long list of dunks that Bridges has thrown down in his short basketball career, and each one of them would be worthy of selection. One thing is for sure, Hornets fans are lucky to watch Miles Bridges do things like this night-in and night-out. 




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