A dunk is a shot thrown down through the basket with one or two hands. In this one you keep both hands on the ball and usually take off from a two-foot jump stop, which gives you a strong base when there is contact. Landing is the most common way basketball players sprain an ankle, so we read your takeoff and, most of all, a bent-knee, absorbed landing with your knees tracking over your toes.
Set up
Warm up first. Only try this once a plain jump gets the ball, held in both hands, above the rim. Until then, build the jump and work the drills below.
Ball over the rim first, dunk later.
Attack the rim at a speed you can control. While you learn, shorten and slow the approach, and add speed only as your takeoff and landing hold up.
Fast, but in control.
Gather the ball in both hands with a strong grip, close to your body.
Lock it in.
Take one step, then hop so both feet land at the same time: that is your jump stop and your second step. NBA and FIBA both allow it, but you can't pivot from it, and the ball must be gone before a foot comes back down. You can also dunk two-handed off one foot, using the One-Hand Dunk footwork.
Step, both feet, up.
Plant your feet slightly ahead of your hips so the plant brakes your run and turns it into lift, not a drift forward under the rim.
Brake, then rise.
Square your shoulders to the rim, keep your feet wide, and hold the ball high, away from the defender.
Ball high, feet wide.
Dunk
Jump off both feet and lift the ball with both hands. Keep both hands on it all the way up so a defender can't knock it loose.
Get the ball over the front of the rim and throw it down through the basket with both hands.
Over the rim, then down.
Let go of the rim straight away. In the NBA, deliberately hanging on the rim is a technical foul unless you are preventing an injury. FIBA allows a brief grasp after a dunk, but supporting your weight on the ring is a technical unless it prevents injury.
Touch and release.
Land on both feet, softly, bending your knees and hips, with your knees over your toes, not caving in.
Land soft, sink into it.
Feel it
The jump stop feels like a firm brake: your run stops and goes up instead of carrying you under the basket. The ball stays high and locked in both hands the whole way up. In one small study of volleyball players, two-foot running jumps went higher than one-foot jumps with lower peak force through the legs, though the one-foot jumps came off a faster run. The landing feels quiet: both feet down together, knees and hips bending, knees in line with your toes.
Fix-its
- You run in out of control and can't get up Shorten and slow the approach. Use only as much speed as you can stop with the jump stop and turn into a straight-up jump, then add speed as that holds.
- Traveling on the jump stop Count from the gather: one step, then both feet down together, then up. Don't pivot or shuffle once you've landed, and release the ball before your feet come back down.
- The ball gets stripped or stays low Grip it hard in both hands, keep it close on the gather, then take it high and away from the defender with your shoulders square. Keep both hands on it until you throw it down.
- Hanging on the rim Release the rim straight away. Only hold on if letting go would mean landing on someone or falling.
- Landing stiff or knees caving in Land on both feet and let your knees and hips bend as you touch down. Keep your knees pointing over your toes. If the landing gets stiff or your knees cave as you tire, stop the set.
Drill
- Landing practice: small two-foot jumps, landing softly with knees and hips bent and knees over toes. Make it part of your warm-up 2–3 times a week, and make the jumps harder only while your technique stays clean.
- Jump-stop walk-through: from a few steps out, gather, step, land on both feet together, and jump straight up holding the ball high in both hands. No dunk yet. Walk it, then jog it.
- Reach jumps: off the jump stop, lift the ball in both hands as high toward the rim as you can and land soft. Lengthen the approach and add speed only while your landings stay soft and balanced.
- Rip finish: with a defender applying pressure, use no more than two dribbles, take the ball to your outside shoulder away from the defender, go up on two feet with your shoulders square and land on two feet. Finish with a layup until the dunk is there.
- Dunk attempts: a few full-speed attempts at a time, then rest. Stop the set when your landings get stiff or sloppy, or anything hurts.
Sources
- Jr. NBA — Dunk (glossary)
- Basketball For Coaches — How to Do a Layup in Basketball (6-Step Guide)
- Coaches Insider — Rip Finish Baseline Drill with Dave Richman (North Dakota State Univ.)
- Coaches Insider — Finishing: Pro Hop with Joe Wootten (Bishop O'Connell HS)
- NBA Official Rulebook 2026-27 — Rule No. 10, Sec. XIII (Traveling)
- NBA Official Rulebook 2026-27 — Rule No. 12, Sec. IV and VII (Hanging on the basket ring)
- FIBA — Official Basketball Rules 2026, Art. 25 (Travelling) and Art. 36 (Technical foul: hanging on the ring)
- Tai, Wang & Peng — Biomechanical Comparisons of One-Legged and Two-Legged Running Vertical Jumps, J Hum Kinet (2018)
- Liu & Zaferiou — Factors contributing to jump heights in two-foot running jumps with and without a basketball, Front Sports Act Living (2025)
- Padua et al. — NATA Position Statement: Prevention of ACL Injury, J Athl Train (2018)
- Wang — The Lower Extremity Biomechanics of Single- and Double-Leg Stop-Jump Tasks, J Sports Sci Med (2011)
- McKay et al. — Ankle injuries in basketball: injury rate and risk factors, Br J Sports Med (2001)
Last checked 2026-10-30.