February 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI didn\u2019t really plan on doing it every year,\u201d said Johnson, who\u2019s now the lead color analyst for the Bucks on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin. \u201cAs it turned out, we\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just kind of a carrot dangling for me to shoot for, and something that keeps me working out every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson didn\u2019t expect much of a response to his dunk in 2011, but as the tradition has continued, he\u2019s seen other former NBA stars, including Hall of Famers such as Julius Erving and Dominique Wilkins, continue to dunk well into their later years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that last connection to our youth as players,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBeing 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\u2019s still special. And I\u2019m sure that\u2019s kind of how others feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Marques Johnson, shown on the left with Milwaukee Bucks teammate Sidney Moncrief in 1983, averaged 20.1 points across his NBA career. (Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s 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. \u201cSee if you can dunk,\u201d he remembers hearing.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just kind of walked up to the rim and jumped as high as I could and dunked it with two hands,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd that surprised me as much as anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, more than five decades later, he still lives with that same sense of wonder about whether he will reach the rim.<\/p>\n
While Johnson remains in shape, he doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Every year, he\u2019s convinced to jump one more time.<\/p>\n
Every year, he wonders if he can still meet his one-dunk-a-year quota.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it takes a few tries. His most memorable came in 2012 at UCLA\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019Bannon, embrace.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people responded to it,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cEspecially guys who were up in years, former players reached out to me. It was motivation for them. \u2026 It just turned out that it has inspired a group of older guys to stay fit. And that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Griffin could jump over cars, then Johnson could too, as long as he willed himself to do it.<\/p>\n