NBA All-time Player Tiers: The 20 greatest small forwards ever, ranked
By Cal Durrett
Tier 5) Star level
20) Chris Mullin
19) James Worthy
18) Jamal Wilkes
17) Bernard King
16) Andrian Dantley
15) Alex English
During his peak with the Golden State Warriors, Chris Mullen was a nightmare to stop. Over a seven-year span, Mullin put up 25 points per game on 52.1% shooting as well as averaging 5.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists. That offensive stretch rivals just about any player on this list and while he played fewer than 1000 games, he was dominant for a large chunk of his career.
Ironically, Jamal Wilkes and James Worthy find themselves in the same tier since Wilkes was replaced by Worthy on the showtime Lakers. Wilkes was a big-time scorer in his early days with the Golden State Warriors, averaging 20.8 points and 5.2 rebounds over a four-year span. He also has three all-star appearances and four championships to show for his career.
Los Angeles Lakers legend James Worthy is often considered to be the third leg of the Showtime Lakers' big three, also consisting of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Worthy played his entire career with the Lakers, helping them win three championships, with him winning Final MVP in 1988 and making seven all-star teams in his relatively short career.
Hall of Famer Bernard King was something of a journeyman during his career, playing for six teams in 14 seasons. That was largely due to repeated knee injuries, which prevented him from living up to his full potential. Even so, King was a dominant scorer, averaging at least 20.5 points in 11 of those seasons, including averaging nearly 33 points per game en route to a scoring title. That makes him one of the greatest offensive small forwards ever, even if his counting stats don't show it.
Former NBA star Adrian Dantley was a prolific scorer during his heyday during the 1980s. From 1979-80 to 1988-89, he put up a terrific 26.5 points while shooting a blistering 55% from the field as a result of his dominance as a post player, despite being only 6'5, and being an elite iso scorer. With more than 23,000 career points, few players could stop him.
Former Denver Nuggets star Alex English has been wildly underrated in NBA history, despite him being an eight-time all-star and having the distinction of scoring the most points during the 1980s. In fact, he racked up a stagger eight straight 2,000+ point seasons, en route to his posting an impressive 25,613 career points.