The Greatest Small Forwards in NBA History, Ranked

The small forward is the position that asks for everything. Point guards are judged on running an offense and centers on owning the paint, but the player on the wing has to score from anywhere, guard the other team's most dangerous perimeter threat, rebound in traffic, and make the right pass when the defense collapses on him. That is why the greatest small forwards in NBA history are so hard to rank - and why the position has produced so many of the most complete players the sport has ever seen. The list below runs from Elgin Baylor's airborne game in the late 1950s to LeBron James preparing for his 24th season. It includes the league's all-time leading scorer, a man who won three straight MVPs, a six-time champion who built his name on defense, and a scorer who shot his free throws underhanded. What unites them is range: there was almost nothing on a basketball court they could not do.

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What Makes a Great Small Forward?

A center can dominate with size and a point guard with vision, but a small forward needs a little of both and a lot of everything else. The best of them score at volume. They also defend: the position draws the opponent's top perimeter scorer every night, which is why All-Defensive selections matter here as much as points. And they decide championships, because when a playoff game slows down, the wing is usually the player a contender runs its offense through.

The list weighs peak dominance, longevity, hardware, and two-way impact. A few of these players logged real minutes at other positions - versatility is the whole point - but each one built his legend on the wing.

LeBron James - Cleveland, Miami, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, 2003-present

LeBron James is the most complete small forward who ever played. Drafted first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003, he has won four MVP awards (2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013) and four championships with three different franchises, earning Finals MVP every time. On February 7, 2023, he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer, and on March 2, 2024, against Denver, he became the first player to reach 40,000 career points. His 13 All-NBA First Team selections are also a record.

His defining series came in 2016. Down 3-1 in the Finals to a Golden State team that had just won 73 regular-season games, Cleveland became the first team ever to win the Finals after trailing 3-1, and James led both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks - the first player to do that in any playoff series. In July 2026 he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, calling it his "last decision," and he will open his 24th season in a fourth NBA uniform.

Larry Bird - Boston Celtics, 1979-1992

Larry Bird changed a franchise overnight. Boston drafted him sixth overall in 1978, waited a year while he finished at Indiana State, and then watched him lift the Celtics from 29-53 to 61-21 - the best single-season turnaround in NBA history at the time - on the way to Rookie of the Year. From 1984 through 1986 he won three consecutive MVP awards, only the third player ever to do it after Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, and still the only forward. He won titles in 1981, 1984, and 1986, took Finals MVP in 1984 and 1986, and made nine All-NBA First Teams.

Bird was a shooter before shooting ruled the league. He was the first player in NBA history to make 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three, and 90 percent from the line in the same season, and he did it twice. He won the Three-Point Contest three years running, from 1986 to 1988, and retired averaging 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 6.3 assists. He remains the only person in NBA history to win MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.

Kevin Durant - Seattle to Houston, 2007-present

Kevin Durant may be the purest scorer the position has ever produced. The Seattle SuperSonics took him second overall in 2007, he won Rookie of the Year, and in 2009-10 he became the youngest scoring champion in league history at 30.1 points per game. He won four scoring titles in five seasons - 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014 - and capped that run with the 2014 MVP after averaging 32.0 points a night.

The rings came in Golden State, where he won back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018 and was named Finals MVP both times. His full path reads like a Career Path puzzle: Seattle and Oklahoma City, Golden State, Brooklyn, Phoenix, and now Houston, where in March 2026 he passed Michael Jordan for fifth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. He is also the first men's basketball player to win four Olympic gold medals, from London in 2012 through Paris in 2024.

Julius Erving - ABA and Philadelphia, 1971-1987

Julius Erving made flight a basketball skill. He signed with the ABA's Virginia Squires in 1971 and went on to win three straight ABA MVP awards from 1974 to 1976 and two ABA championships with the New York Nets, in 1974 and 1976. At the dunk contest during the 1976 ABA All-Star Game, he ran to the far end of the court, turned, and took off from the free-throw line - a dunk every contest since has been chasing. The Milwaukee Bucks had drafted him 12th overall in 1972, but he never played a game for them.

He joined the Philadelphia 76ers in 1976, won the 1981 MVP, and captured his NBA title in 1983. His most famous NBA play came in the 1980 Finals: a baseline drive that carried his whole body behind the backboard before he reached back and scored with a right-handed layup. Erving made five ABA and 11 NBA All-Star teams, retired in 1987 at 37, and finished with 30,026 combined ABA and NBA points.

Elgin Baylor - Minneapolis and Los Angeles Lakers, 1958-1971

Elgin Baylor played above the rim before the league had words for it. The Minneapolis Lakers took him first overall in 1958, and he was Rookie of the Year in 1959. On November 15, 1960, he scored 71 points against the New York Knicks, and in Game 5 of the 1962 Finals he scored 61 against the Boston Celtics - still the NBA Finals record.

Baylor averaged 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds per game for his career, made 11 All-Star teams, and was named All-NBA First Team 10 times. The cruelty of his story is the ending. He reached the Finals eight times and lost all eight. Hobbled by knee problems that had followed him since 1965, he retired nine games into the 1971-72 season, and the Lakers promptly won a record 33 straight games, finished 69-13, and took the title. The franchise gave him a championship ring anyway, but no player on this list has a stronger claim to being the best never to win one on the court.

Editorial illustration: The Greatest Small Forwards in NBA History, Ranked

John Havlicek - Boston Celtics, 1962-1978

John Havlicek was the engine that never stopped running. The Celtics took him seventh overall in 1962 - the same year the Cleveland Browns drafted him to play football - and he won eight championships in 16 seasons. He began as Boston's sixth man, made 13 All-Star teams, and won Finals MVP in 1974.

His most famous moment came on defense. In Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern finals against Philadelphia, with Boston up 110-109 and five seconds left, he tipped Hal Greer's inbounds pass to Sam Jones to save the series. The NBA has called Johnny Most's call - "Havlicek stole the ball!" - the most famous radio call in basketball history. He made five All-Defensive First Teams, became the first player to score 1,000 points in 16 consecutive seasons, and retired with 26,395 points, still the most in Celtics history.

Scottie Pippen - Chicago Bulls, 1987-1998

Scottie Pippen is the definition of a two-way wing. Seattle took him fifth overall in 1987 and sent him to Chicago in a deal built around the eighth pick, Olden Polynice. With the Bulls he won six championships across two three-peats and made eight straight All-Defensive First Teams from 1992 through 1999, adding Olympic gold in 1992 and 1996.

The seasons without Michael Jordan proved what he was on his own. In 1993-94 he averaged 22.0 points and 8.7 rebounds, won All-Star Game MVP, made his first All-NBA First Team, and finished third in MVP voting. The next season he led the Bulls in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks - the first player to top his team in all five since Dave Cowens in 1977-78 - while leading the entire league at 2.94 steals per game. He was named to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players list in 1996.

Kawhi Leonard - San Antonio, Toronto and the Clippers, 2011-present

Kawhi Leonard is the best two-way wing of his generation. The Indiana Pacers took him 15th overall in 2011 and traded him that night to San Antonio, where he became the 2014 Finals MVP at 22 years and 351 days old - the third-youngest winner of the award. He won Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016 and making three All-Defensive First Teams.

Then came Toronto. In 2019 he led the Raptors to the first championship in franchise history and won Finals MVP again, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players to win the award with two different franchises. The signature moment of that run was a corner shot at the buzzer of Game 7 against Philadelphia that bounced off the rim four times before dropping - the first Game 7 buzzer-beater in NBA history, capping a 41-point night. In 2026 the Raptors traded to bring him back.

Rick Barry - Warriors and the ABA, 1965-1980

Rick Barry is the only player to lead the NCAA, the ABA, and the NBA in scoring. The San Francisco Warriors took him second overall in 1965, he won Rookie of the Year in 1966, and in his second season he led the NBA at 35.6 points per game. He spent four seasons in the ABA before returning to the Warriors, by then in Golden State, for his peak.

In 1975, Golden State swept a Washington Bullets team led by Hall of Famers Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld, and Barry was named Finals MVP. He also led the league that season with 2.9 steals per game. Barry made five All-NBA First Teams, eight NBA All-Star teams, and four ABA All-Star teams, all while shooting his free throws underhanded. His career free-throw percentage of .900 was the best of any NBA player when he retired in 1980.

Paul Pierce - Boston Celtics, 1998-2013

Paul Pierce scored his way into Celtics history the hard way. Boston took him 10th overall in 1998, and on September 25, 2000, he was stabbed 11 times in the face, neck, and back at a Boston nightclub. He still started all 82 games that season, the only Celtic to do so. On March 13, 2001, after Pierce scored 42 points against the Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal gave him the nickname that stuck: "The Truth."

His crowning moment came in 2008, when the Celtics beat the Lakers in six games for the franchise's 17th championship and Pierce was named Finals MVP. He made 10 All-Star teams, finished with 26,397 career points, and ranks second in Celtics scoring behind only Havlicek. Pierce was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021.

Honorable Mentions

A few more wings who belong in any serious conversation:

Dominique Wilkins. The third overall pick in 1982, dealt from Utah to Atlanta months later, won the 1986 scoring title at 30.3 points per game, took the Slam Dunk Contest in 1985 and 1990, and finished with 26,668 career points.
James Worthy. The first overall pick in 1982 won three titles with the Lakers and earned "Big Game James" for good with a 36-point, 16-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in Game 7 of the 1988 Finals, which won him Finals MVP.
Carmelo Anthony. The third overall pick in 2003 won the 2013 scoring title at 28.7 points per game, made 10 All-Star teams, and won Olympic gold in 2008, 2012, and 2016.
Jayson Tatum. The third overall pick in 2017 won the 2024 championship, made four straight All-NBA First Teams from 2022 to 2025, and was the inaugural Eastern Conference Finals MVP in 2022.

What the Greatest Small Forwards Share

Read these careers side by side and a few patterns jump out. They scored at historic levels. LeBron and Durant sit first and fifth on the all-time scoring list, Baylor still owns the single-game Finals record, and Barry led three different leagues in scoring. The best of them defended, too. Pippen's eight straight All-Defensive First Teams, Kawhi's two Defensive Player of the Year awards, and Havlicek's famous steal are as central to their legends as any point total. And many of them won in more than one place. LeBron won titles with three franchises, Kawhi won Finals MVP with two, and Erving won championships in two different leagues - while Bird and Havlicek proved the one-jersey path works just as well.

That mobility is the most modern thing about the position. Durant has played for five franchises, LeBron is about to suit up for his fourth, and Kawhi is back in the city where he won his second ring. Teams keep paying whatever it takes to land a great wing, because a great wing changes everything at once - the scoring, the defense, and the ceiling.

Closing illustration for The Greatest Small Forwards in NBA History, Ranked