What does "dunk on somebody" mean??

Context
Posterizing someone during a basketball game has to be an amazing achievement, at any level of play. But posterizing a 7-foot-6 superstar at the Olympics? Well, that's an achievement worth a whole lot -- $1 million, to be precise.

A certain former NBA star and Olympian -- let's call him Kevin Garnett -- revealed this week that Team USA placed a "bounty" on the head of Yao Ming during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. If any American player could dunk over the Chinese big man, they'd collect the reward.
Unfortunately, nobody was able to do it, though not for a lack of effort.

"People didn't know, we had a bounty out on Yao Ming," said Garnett in an interview with Yahoo! Sports. "The whole USA team had a bet. We had a million dollar bet on who was going to be the first person to dunk on Yao Ming. None of us did. We all tried to dunk on Yao, but he would block it or we would miss."

Question

What does "dunk on somebody" mean??

Context>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
Posterizing someone during a basketball game has to be an amazing achievement, at any level of play. But posterizing a 7-foot-6 superstar at the Olympics? Well, that's an achievement worth a whole lot -- $1 million, to be precise. 

A certain former NBA star and Olympian -- let's call him Kevin Garnett -- revealed this week that Team USA placed a "bounty" on the head of Yao Ming during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. If any American player could dunk over the Chinese big man, they'd collect the reward.
Unfortunately, nobody was able to do it, though not for a lack of effort. 

"People didn't know, we had a bounty out on Yao Ming," said Garnett in an interview with Yahoo! Sports. "The whole USA team had a bet. We had a million dollar bet on who was going to be the first person to dunk on Yao Ming. None of us did. We all tried to dunk on Yao, but he would block it or we would miss."

ten_learns · Accepted Answer

literally: dunking is a move in basketball where you jump and put the ball right in the hoop. it is very hard to dunk on Yao Ming because he is so tall and a good player.

it can also be used as slang for making fun of someone, but in this case they mean it literally.

velli · Answer

It is a basketball move....However, in some American slang it can mean putting someone in there place after They have made a rude comment.

khemblvd · Answer

Also just to throw this out there, you might hear the word “posterize” in an NBA game. This means the same as “dunk on somebody.” I know it is pretty useless information but it is cool to know.

mohsin2341 · Answer

@ten_learns  thanks

Braden_Snider · Answer

@monica8 it means to dunk the ball over someone who is trying to guard you.

Cheyenn90411989 · Answer

he means to basically jump of someone and shoot a basketball in a hoop but if you say your slam dunking that means to jump and drop the ball in the hoop

Beez14 · Answer

Please allow me to clarify because some of the answers did not specifically describe what to "dunk on someone" looks like. It means to put the ball in the hoop without "shooting" (releasing it from the hand at a distance). It is instead when the player jumps up so that his arm is at a level just above the basket and puts it through the hoop. To dunk "on someone" means to accomplish a dunk while the other player is attempting to guard the player making the dunk. In the case of your article, the challenge is to be able to dunk on Yao Ming as he's guarding.

And yes, as others have said, people sometimes use the phrase as slang to indicate they won an argument.

And yes, as others have said, people sometimes use the phrase as slang to indicate they won an argument.

himekaiju · Answer

In this context, they mean in a literal way, someone scoring a point in basketball when playing against Yao Ming.
Sometimes you may here "dunk on someone" as slang meaning "to insult or make fun of someone".

Meribor · Answer

Slam dunk

literally: dunking is a move in basketball where you jump and put the ball right in the hoop. it is very hard to dunk on Yao Ming because he is so tall and a good player.it can also be used as slang for making fun of someone, but in this case they mean it literally.

literally: dunking is a move in basketball where you jump and put the ball right in the hoop. it is very hard to dunk on Yao Ming because he is so tall and a good player.it can also be used as slang for making fun of someone, but in this case they mean it literally.

@monica8 it means to dunk the ball over someone who is trying to guard you.

Also just to throw this out there, you might hear the word “posterize” in an NBA game. This means the same as “dunk on somebody.” I know it is pretty useless information but it is cool to know.

he means to basically jump of someone and shoot a basketball in a hoop but if you say your slam dunking that means to jump and drop the ball in the hoop

@ten_learns thanks

It is a basketball move....However, in some American slang it can mean putting someone in there place after They have made a rude comment.

In this context, they mean in a literal way, someone scoring a point in basketball when playing against Yao Ming.Sometimes you may here "dunk on someone" as slang meaning "to insult or make fun of someone".

Slam dunk

Ask native speakers questions for free

literally: dunking is a move in basketball where you jump and put the ball right in the hoop. it is very hard to dunk on Yao Ming because he is so tall and a good player.

it can also be used as slang for making fun of someone, but in this case they mean it literally.

literally: dunking is a move in basketball where you jump and put the ball right in the hoop. it is very hard to dunk on Yao Ming because he is so tall and a good player.

it can also be used as slang for making fun of someone, but in this case they mean it literally.

In this context, they mean in a literal way, someone scoring a point in basketball when playing against Yao Ming.
Sometimes you may here "dunk on someone" as slang meaning "to insult or make fun of someone".