In 2011, retired NBA All-Star Marques Johnson was at home watching rookie Blake Griffin soar over a Kia sedan to win the NBA Dunk Contest.
He thought it would be fun to attempt it himself.
After all, he was a five-time All-Star who played in the NBA from 1977-89, primarily with the Milwaukee Bucks, but also the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. He was the first-ever recipient of the John R. Wooden Award, given to the nation’s top player, when he was a senior at UCLA in 1977. It was an award he won for “dunking everything” because “every finish had to be a dunk,” the 6-foot-7 Johnson told The Athletic.
Why not try to replicate Griffin’s dunk?
Johnson didn’t let the fact that he was about to turn 55 deter him. He wanted to do it anyway.
He told his son Josiah Johnson, now a host and executive producer of Gilbert Arenas’ podcast “Gil’s Arena,” that he wanted to post a video of himself dunking on social media. They headed to a local 24 Hour Fitness in Los Angeles, where he leaped over two toy Matchbox cars shortly after All-Star Weekend and his Feb. 8 birthday.
What began as a one-time joke has since become an annual tradition.
On Monday, Johnson posted his 70th birthday dunk video on X while promoting his new book, “The Crenshaw Chronicles”, about the history and legacy of Los Angeles’ Crenshaw High School and the figures it has produced. He earned California Mr. Basketball while playing for Crenshaw.
Still dunking at 70 years old!!! 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/2CGYFac1Hd
— Elder Marques Johnson (@olskool888) February 23, 2026
“I didn’t really plan on doing it every year,” said Johnson, who’s now the lead color analyst for the Bucks on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin. “As it turned out, we’ve been able to put something together pretty much every year since then. It gives me motivation and inspiration to, as I get older, continue to work out, continue to take care of myself and continue to respect my body and make sure I stay as fit as I possibly can.
“It’s just kind of a carrot dangling for me to shoot for, and something that keeps me working out every day.”
Johnson didn’t expect much of a response to his dunk in 2011, but as the tradition has continued, he’s seen other former NBA stars, including Hall of Famers such as Julius Erving and Dominique Wilkins, continue to dunk well into their later years.
“It’s that last connection to our youth as players,” Johnson said. “Being able to dunk, it was always, for guys, a big part of your basketball personality. Just to be able to see how long you could do it, and if you could still do it in your advanced years. It’s still special. And I’m sure that’s kind of how others feel about it.”
Marques Johnson, shown on the left with Milwaukee Bucks teammate Sidney Moncrief in 1983, averaged 20.1 points across his NBA career. (Imagn Images)
Johnson’s first dunk came at Dorsey High School when he was a 14-year-old, before he transferred to Crenshaw. At lunchtime, a young Johnson milled around older seniors who were shooting. The ball was thrown to him with a challenge. “See if you can dunk,” he remembers hearing.
He was wearing slacks and dress shoes, an outfit for school, not for meeting the rim. He took off anyway, with no idea whether he would get high enough.
“I just kind of walked up to the rim and jumped as high as I could and dunked it with two hands,” Johnson said. “And that surprised me as much as anybody else.”
Now, more than five decades later, he still lives with that same sense of wonder about whether he will reach the rim.
While Johnson remains in shape, he doesn’t play pickup and does not dunk in his free time. Every year, including in his 70th birthday video, he says it will be his last.
Every year, he’s convinced to jump one more time.
Every year, he wonders if he can still meet his one-dunk-a-year quota.
Sometimes it takes a few tries. His most memorable came in 2012 at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, the building he once called home. Johnson wanted to be the first to dunk after the arena underwent major renovations. It took multiple attempts, so many that a staffer asked if he wanted the rim lowered.
It was about principle. He kept going until he finished, motivated to maintain the same physical standard he carried as a player, a sentiment he has seen other former players, such as Kendrick Perkins and Charles O’Bannon, embrace.
“A lot of people responded to it,” Johnson said. “Especially guys who were up in years, former players reached out to me. It was motivation for them. … It just turned out that it has inspired a group of older guys to stay fit. And that’s a good thing.”
If Griffin could jump over cars, then Johnson could too, as long as he willed himself to do it.
