With the NBA season right around the corner, now is as good a time as any to take stock of the best talent around the league. So before the regular season officially begins, Sports Illustrated will be ranking the top five players at every position in the NBA. Here, we are focusing on small forwards, a trickier position to track in the smaller-ball era.
Apologies to: A bunch of players you may have expected to see on this list who have actually played the majority (or plurality) of their minutes at power forward over the last couple seasons. And also Mikal Bridges.
5. DeMar DeRozan
After his fantastic 2022 season, DeMar DeRozan came back down to earth a bit in ‘23. Basically, he shot the ball fewer times a night and got to the free throw line slightly less, which resulted in a dip in scoring. DeRozan remains a midrange maestro though, hitting tough shot after tough shot that defenses begrudgingly tell themselves they want to give up. After his stint in San Antonio—and with the Bulls constantly tip-toeing the line of playoff hopeful and teardown candidate—selfishly, it would be nice to see DeRozan play for a contender again at this stage of his career.
4. Brandon Ingram
Ingram is coming off per-game career highs in scoring, assists and free throw attempts, while nearly matching his bests in efficiency. Ingram, still only 26, has evolved into a multi-level scorer, who hasn’t had to sacrifice efficiency as he increases his volume. Health is an issue however, as he’s appeared in only 100 regular season games in the last two seasons combined. (His Team USA performance during the FIBA World Cup also left a little to be desired.) Still, Ingram has steadily improved despite inconsistencies around him, and he still has time to take his game up to higher levels. A healthy supporting cast could be as important to his success as his own health.
3. Paul George
The injuries are very frustrating for PG. Over the last two years, George has appeared in only 87 games total. He may still have the potential to be the best player in this group if he can simply stay on the floor. George’s skills are mouthwatering—a long wing who can guard multiple positions at an elite level with the ability to create his own offense at the level of a No. 1 option, who can hit a large volume of threes at a high percentage. Even if a team may not be a true contender with George as its best player, he’s overqualified to be a No. 2. … which makes it even more annoying that he and Kawhi Leonard generally can’t find a way to play together in the postseason.
2. Jayson Tatum
If I were a betting man, I would gamble on Tatum winning at least one MVP in his career, in part because of backroom dealings of the Boston Media Mafia, but mostly because of his sublime talent. Tatum ascended to unquestioned superstardom last year, putting up a 30.1/8.8/4.6 slash line, averaging a career-best 8.4 free throws a game and his second-best field-goal percentage since his rookie year. Tatum is a devastating offensive force. His stepback three is lethal. And if you slightly overplay his shot, he can get to the rim and finish through contact. He does all of this while playing stellar defense on the other side of the floor. Every team that tanks prays it heads into the lottery with a talent like Tatum waiting for them. He is the platonic ideal of a young wing star that every franchise wishes it could build around.
1. Jimmy Butler
Jim Rassol/USA TODAY Sports
We can’t have the guest editor of our NBA Preview issue any lower than this, right? Before we even get to Playoff Jimmy, Butler was sneakily an absolute force during the 2023 regular season. He finished fourth in win shares, second in win shares per 48 and fourth in box plus/minus and fourth in VORP, per Basketball Reference. Butler finds untraditional ways to dominate on both ends of the floor. What he lacks in gaudy scoring numbers, he makes up for with how rarely he makes the wrong play and his world-class defense. And then there’s the postseason. With all due respect to Bam Adebayo—a star in his own right—no one has done more with less in the playoffs the last four years than Butler. Since Butler joined the Heat, Miami has the most playoff wins and Finals appearances in the NBA, despite the lack of a true secondary scorer and a supporting cast largely made up of misfits and undrafted finds on the league’s fringes. Butler is not given enough credit as a ceiling raiser, and he’s the No. 1 reason for the Heat’s surprising success over the last four years.