3 Magical NBA Photos

With both the NBA playoffs and NBA draft behind us, and free agency not starting until later in the week, we’re officially in a bit of a dead period in the NBA.

But rather than twiddle and/or sit on our thumbs, why not revisit a few of the most delightful photos from NBA history?

Let’s jump to it!

Tracy McGrady Dunks on Shawn Bradley

You may remember Shawn Bradley as the tallest Monstar from Space Jam. But he was also an NBA player who bounced around a few teams, including the Dallas Mavericks.

In the 2005 playoffs, we had ourselves a good Texas vs. Texas battle. And Shawnathan Bradley (probably not his real name) gave it the old college try as he tried to block a dunk by Houston’s Tracy McGrady.

As this photo suggests, that block went poorly.

There’s so much to love about this picture, but I want to call special attention to Yao Ming in the back. He looks like a frightened puppy that just got caught eating candy canes, and it’s like, where did you even get those candy canes, and how do you do so much damage in such a limited amount of unsupervised time?

Oh, that’s just my dog? Cool.

Matt Bonner Tries to Grab the Ball, Fails

I like this picture because it works both backward and forward.

The actual play is a pass going behind where Bonner is standing. But doesn’t it look like it could be the opposite? Like someone threw the ball from behind him, and he’s asking, “Hey, where’s the ball?” blissfully unaware of the doomsday that’s heading his way like it’s the final scene of Fail Safe.

We like some flexibility in our NBA photos, and Bonner delivers. He also had a delightful retirement video when he finally hung up his sneakers.

Sam Dekker Uses His Head

In basketball, most players tend to dribble with their hands. But sometimes, they get creative and use some other limbs.

Perhaps the most unique effort came from Sam Dekker. He’s displaying the classic face dribble here, which is a nice technique when your fingers get tired.

Oh, wait, that’s my mistake. This happened when Dekker fell on an uncontested fast break, and the ball happened to bounce off his face. Ouch!

Let’s also note the cut on Dekker’s leg. I wonder if he got it by walking directly into a bedframe like I did this weekend. Be careful out there.