Reverse Dunk: Basketball technique, drills and fixes

A reverse dunk is a dunk where your back is to the rim and backboard when you finish: you attack along the baseline, pass under the basket and throw the ball down through the far side of the rim. Like a reverse layup, it puts the rim between the shot blocker and the ball. The cost is a landing you can't see coming, so we read your takeoff and, above all, how you land.

Set up

Earn it first. You should already dunk forward cleanly and make reverse layups from both sides. Add the reverse only while your landings stay soft and controlled.

Forward dunk and reverse layup first.

Attack along the baseline or at an angle, with the defender on your hip, at a speed you can control. A straight-line drive makes the reverse harder.

Ride the baseline.

Use the lane blocks and floor markings to track where you are. You need to get far enough under to reach the far side of the rim without getting pinned on the baseline.

Know your spot.

Gather the ball in both hands. Under NBA and FIBA rules you get two steps after you gather on the move, and the ball must leave your hands before a foot comes back down. College and high-school rules are worded differently, so check your league.

Dunk

Take off from the foot nearest the baseline and drive the other knee up (reverse-layup footwork). Or go off two feet with a jump stop, as in the Two-Hand Dunk lesson.

Baseline foot, knee up.

Don't look down at the ball. Tilt your head back as you pass under the rim and keep your eyes on the target.

Head back, eyes up.

Keep your back to the defender so the rim and your body screen the ball from the shot blocker.

Turn to face away. The rim is now behind you, so take the ball back over your head and throw it down through the far side of the rim.

Ball back over the head, down through the rim.

Let go of the rim. In the NBA, deliberately hanging on the ring is a technical foul (plus a fine) unless you do it to prevent an injury. Under FIBA rules, letting the ring hold your weight is a technical unless it's a momentary grasp after a dunk or you're preventing an injury. If you need the rim to stop a fall, both rulebooks allow it.

Land

Land on both feet whenever you can. Landing is the most common way basketball players hurt an ankle (45% of ankle injuries in one study), and single-leg landings show higher impact forces and less knee and hip bend than two-foot landings.

Two feet down.

Land softly. Bend your knees and hips, and keep your knees over your toes.

Soft, knees over toes.

Absorb from the instant your feet touch. In video of basketball ACL injuries, the injury happened about 17–50 milliseconds after the foot hit the floor, often after a push or collision. That's too fast to react, so the bend has to be a habit.

Bend on contact, not after.

Make the blind landing predictable. Use the same approach and landing spot, and check that the space behind the baseline is clear before you start. In one lab study, people dropping blind without knowing the height landed stiffer, with higher impact force and less knee bend; people who dropped blind but knew the height landed the same as with their eyes open. Research on vision and landing is mixed overall, so treat this as a sensible habit, not a proven fix.

Know the floor before you see it.

Feel it

You ride the baseline under control, head tilted back, eyes on the rim as you pass under. The rim stays between the defender and the ball. The ball comes back over your head and goes down through the far side, and your hand comes off the rim. Because you've landed on that spot before, the floor is no surprise: two feet, knees and hips bending as soon as you touch.

Fix-its

You get caught short and can't reach the far side of the rim Carry the ball further under the basket before you go up, and use the lane blocks to judge where you are. Groove it with reverse layups from both sides first.
You get pinned on the baseline or lose track of where you are Pick up the lane blocks and floor markings on the approach, and attack at an angle with the defender on your hip instead of drifting onto the baseline.
You come in out of control or travel Slow the approach to a speed you can stop, gather with two hands, and take only your two steps before you go up.
You hang or swing on the rim Throw it down and let go. Grab the rim only if you need it to keep from falling.
Your landing is stiff, one-footed or off balance Land on two feet with your knees and hips bending, use the same landing spot every rep, and end the set as soon as landings start to slip.

Drill

Landing practice: soft two-foot landings off jumps (land softly, bend knees and hips, knees over toes), at least 2–3 times a week as part of your warm-up.
Mikan spins: alternate sides under the hoop at a fast pace, finishing reverse layups off the square, to get used to the disorientation under the rim.
Reverse layups from both sides in your layup lines, taking off from the baseline foot.
Drive reverse: set cones at the elbow and near the block, beat the cones with a dribble move, stay out of the paint until you pass the second cone, then finish a reverse layup. Move the cones to change your angle.
Reverse dunks, low volume: same approach, same landing spot, with the area behind the baseline cleared. Stop the set the moment a landing gets stiff, one-footed or off balance, and move back a step in the progression.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-31.