The 50 Best Nike Dunks Of All Time

The 50 Best Nike Dunks Of All Time

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5. Nike x Pharrell Williams Dunk High
YEAR OF RELEASE: 2004
• Fans of N.E.R.D and Hypebeasts (can we call people Hypebeasts before that site started?) creamed their skinny jeans waiting in line for Skateboard P's dunks. Hype aside, they're sick, and if you have a pair on ice, you'll be good even if your 401k is lookin' lean.
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4. Nike Dunk (Original 7 School Colorways)
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1985
• These aren't #1, well, just because. They're hot, and getting one's hands on an original pair is impressive, but there's three more that are better. Back in 1985, collegiate basketball powerhouses UNLV, Kentucky, St. Johns, Syracuse, Arizona, Michigan, and Iowa got to match their shoes to warm-ups, t-shirts and their uniforms. Georgetown wanted it's own, and pushed for a Terminator in Hoyas colors. The Dunk program moved from there, and produced the freshest on-court kicks the NCAA had ever seen. After the sneakers took an archive nap, Nike resurrected the silhouette and gave it the vintage treatment 20 years later.
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3. Nike Sportswear x Dave's Quality Meats Dunk Hi
YEAR OF RELEASE: 2008
• Dave & Co. embraced tone on tone colorways and created a fully perf-ed nubuck Dunk in three sick colorways (Cave Purple, Ice Green, Industrial Blue), and one shop only black version. It's the first Nike release for sale to the general public with a shop logo, an interesting little factoid for sneakerheads (all others w logos were not retailed). Our favorite part of this drop though? The Complex CSN video that had the Internets going nuts.
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2. Nike Dunk Low Pro B "Smurf"
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1999
• There was a time when there was no Nike SB, when Nike was producing fat-tongued Dunks but wasn't really sure what to do with them (the building full of cool guy-execs came later). These Nike kicks were blue suede shoes, and you had to cop through a Japanese friend with a nike.co.jp hookup. Things done changed.
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1. Nike Dunk Hi "Wu-Tang Clan"
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1999
• It can be argued that these are simply the original Iowa Goldenrod Dunk colorway with some Wu-Tang embroidery. Actually it doesn't need to be argued, that's what these are. But these Dunks take the number one spot for a few reasons. First, they are limited as crap. You can grab them at Flight Club, maybe ($5k+), but not really. At the original drop, releases were rumored at only 36 pairs (plus a few more that Nike dudes made for "sampling"). Second, they're the Iowa colorway, which is the best of the orignal seven, and the black/yellow has all kind of power undertones behind it. Third, this was the sneaker that started regular Nike's foray into the world of acknowledging cool. After the Wu-Tang Dunk came Pharrell's, and then shop Dunks like UNDFTD and Kicks/HI and DQM's Air Max 90. This was the Dunk that started teh second coming of the sneakerhead, and it's still the best of the bunch as far as we're concerned. Wu-Tang forever.


Tags: best-nike-dunks, complex, complex-lists, dunks, nike, nike-dunks, sneakers

182 Comments | Add a comment

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    p September 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 PM

    this is the biggest load of bullshit - why dont you get someone to do this who knows what they are talking about?

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      nadia September 2nd, 2009 at 12:56 PM

      This list SUCKS BALLS!

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    myschel September 2nd, 2009 at 12:51 PM

    yea i like this..yall did great.

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    johngone September 2nd, 2009 at 12:52 PM

    eh.. ill wait for the SB list.. i swear to god if you put tiffanys at #1 .. im going to throw my laptop at the first person i see

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      Kc September 2nd, 2009 at 03:48 PM

      Shut The Fuck Up Your Just Sayin That Cause You Cant Ever Get Em

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        Rob September 2nd, 2009 at 08:34 PM

        This better not be my homey KC talkin shit to somebody about not owning some tiffs. Regardless, if the tiffs end up number one on the sb list that would be some bullshit! If this is my homey, you're telling me that your bisons should be behind some gay ass hypebeast tiffs? Cmon homey, man up!

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          jUskii September 2nd, 2009 at 09:11 PM

          i own the tiffs and compared to my other sbs the What the dunks should be number 1 tiff are in the top 10 though

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    IamTheWarehouse September 2nd, 2009 at 12:56 PM

    How can you not have the Heavens Gate Dunks on here?

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    bklynboy September 2nd, 2009 at 12:58 PM

    this article is a huuuuge fail. i saw maybe 3 pairs i would rock. no good guys

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    enosone23 September 2nd, 2009 at 12:59 PM

    wtf?! seriously if u put this together kill yourself...didnt see 1 dunk that i expected to be on here...

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    dj shakez September 2nd, 2009 at 01:01 PM

    Looks like they didn't go with SB's... just normal dunks. CORALINES should definitely be UP THERE!!!

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    suckitmarshall September 2nd, 2009 at 01:03 PM

    This is a dope list. I can't wait to see a million dumb-ass comments from people that didn't read the NO SBs disclaimer about how you missed all the SB dunks...

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      p September 2nd, 2009 at 02:25 PM

      yo dipshit - why are te alpha dunks on the list if there is no SB?

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        lalalalalalala September 2nd, 2009 at 05:10 PM

        cause the alpha's are PRO B's, DIPSHIT.

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    StokedOnHype September 2nd, 2009 at 01:07 PM

    i liked the shoes but not the order

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    MiKE September 2nd, 2009 at 01:08 PM

    honestly. this list sucks. there's not even five good pairs on it.

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