Greatest NBA Small Forwards of All Time

On February 7, 2023, James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer. He holds four MVP awards and four Finals MVPs won with three different franchises, among them the 2016 title after Cleveland trailed a 73-win Golden State team 3-1.

Only Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Bird have won three straight MVP awards, his coming from 1984 through 1986, a stretch that brought Boston titles in 1984 and 1986. He also posted 50-40-90 shooting seasons in 1987 and 1988 and won the first three Three-Point Contests ever held.

Four scoring titles and the 2014 MVP award defined Durant in Oklahoma City before back-to-back championships and Finals MVPs with Golden State in 2017 and 2018. His 2012-13 season is one of the rare 50-40-90 campaigns in league history, posted at better than 28 points per game.

Three ABA MVP awards and two ABA titles with the New York Nets came before his 1981 NBA MVP and the 76ers' 1983 championship. Erving retired with more than 30,000 combined ABA and NBA points, and his free-throw-line dunk at the 1976 ABA contest set the template every dunk event has chased since.

Six championships in Chicago came with eight selections to the All-Defensive First Team, more than any other forward here. Pippen led the league in steals in 1994-95 and took All-Star MVP in 1994, the season he pushed a Jordan-less Bulls team to 55 wins.

Seventy-one points against the Knicks in November 1960 stood as the NBA record until Wilt Chamberlain broke it, and Baylor's 61 in Game 5 of the 1962 Finals remains the Finals single-game mark. He averaged 38.3 that season while serving Army reserve duty, and he retired nine games into the Lakers' 1972 title year.

Back-to-back scoring titles in 2003 and 2004 marked the height of McGrady's Orlando run, the first at 32.1 points per game. He is remembered just as often for a December 2004 night in Houston, when he scored 13 points in the final 33 seconds to erase an eight-point deficit against San Antonio.

Two Finals MVP awards five years apart, with San Antonio in 2014 and Toronto in 2019, put Leonard in company almost nobody shares. He also won Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons in 2015 and 2016, and his Game 7 buzzer-beater against Philadelphia bounced on the rim four times before dropping.

The 1985-86 scoring title belonged to Wilkins at 30.3 points per game, and he took the Slam Dunk Contest in 1985 and 1990. His Game 7 duel with Bird in the 1988 conference semifinals produced 47 points in a two-point Atlanta loss.

Named Finals MVP in 2008 after Boston beat the Lakers in six games, Pierce closed a title drought that had run since 1986. A 10-time All-Star with a scorer's foul-drawing craft, he ranks second in Celtics history in points, behind only Havlicek.

Anthony led the NBA in scoring in 2012-13 at 28.7 points per game, the only scoring title of his career. On January 24, 2014 he dropped 62 on Charlotte, the highest single-game total anyone has scored inside Madison Square Garden. Three Olympic golds followed his 2003 national title at Syracuse.

Co-Rookie of the Year in 1995 with Jason Kidd, Hill was a point-forward who led All-Star fan voting in his first season. Ankle injuries then held him to 47 games across four years in Orlando, though he reached seven All-Star teams overall and reinvented himself as a wing defender in Phoenix.

Eight championships, more than anyone else on this list, arrived over a 16-year career spent entirely in Boston. Havlicek won Finals MVP in 1974 and is still the Celtics' all-time leading scorer with 26,395 points, and his 1965 steal of Hal Greer's inbounds pass ended Philadelphia's season.

Game 7 of the 1988 Finals brought the first triple-double of Worthy's career, 36 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists against Detroit, plus the Finals MVP award. Three rings with the Showtime Lakers and seven All-Star nods followed his selection first overall in the 1982 draft.