Swish.
Jesse secures himself a position on a basketball team as a medic. But when a player dies due to a supposed record mix-up Jesse made, it's up to the team to save him.
"Slam-Dunk Dead" displays symptoms of the following tropes:
- As Himself: Brent Barry, Charles and Ed O'Bannon, Pooh Richardson and Malik Sealy, all of whom were rookies at the time, play themselves.
- Asshole Victim: Desmond Conway was an egomaniacal douche who brutalized other players for no good reason.
- Batman Gambit: The entire murder plan would have failed had Jesse not proscribed tersenadine to the victim.
- Break Them by Talking: When Mark gets Dwayne on the stand, he talks about how much better of a player Desmond Conway was than him even before Dwayne was injured, Dwayne eventually snaps in anger and drops his act of being more disabled than he is.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Something that really gets under Dwayne's skin about Desmond is that he worked the locker room for the team for two years, and Desmond never recognized him as a player who's career he ruined.
- Medication Tampering: The clarithromycin was administered to Desmond in this manner.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Dwayne has this reaction and cries when Mark points out that in his quest to get back and Desmond for ruining his life, he almost destroyed Jesse's life as well.
- Obfuscating Disability: Dwayne the towel guy is said to have cerebral palsy. He doesn't, and his condition is actually based in Desmond slamming his head into a backboard during a game, killing his basketball career.
- Villainous Breakdown: Mark talks up how great Desmond was at basketball to get Dwayne to break.Mark: As a matter of fact, Dwayne, even without that "accident", you'd have never made pro. I mean.. you were OK, but you weren't great. You didn't have the talent and the skill that Conway had. I mean, even back then he was extraordinary! You were just, er, playing. Conway lived that game. I mean those moves came to him as naturally as breathing. He was-
Dwayne: (Speaking much more clearly) No better than me! The only reason he got to where he was instead of me was 'cause he took me out! He ASSASSINATED ME! - Weaponized Allergy: Dwayne intentionally put cat fur, which Desmond was allergic to, on Desmond's team uniform. As Dwayne knew, Jesse would perscribe Desmond a medication called tersenadine, which would interact with an antibiotic called clarithromycin, which Dwayne had laced Desmond's health formula with, to kill Desmond.
