If you have read our other two position ranks, Point Guards and Shooting Guards, you know what the deal is here. Some writers have made a list of top 20 small forwards so we can crack it down to 10 to have our NBA Small Forwards ranked for our site. Our voters this time around were Trey Daubert, Jackson Law, Karl Heiser, Jarrod Prosser, Dacota Haynes, and myself, Alex Chick III. I think this list was well made and there weren’t a lot of objections. The only one that was really open was the 10th spot on the list. Who was 10th on the list? You’re about to see, and the rest of the list.
#10 Kelly Oubre Jr.
Average Ranking: 9.1
Kelly Oubre Jr. cracks the top 10 for our NBA Small Forwards ranked list after a good season in Phoenix. He was injured for about 16 of the Suns’ games but his contribution next to Devin Booker really helped this ranking. After the #1 result, you’ll see who he was fighting this 10th spot with. This is the only one that was debatable for the top 10, the other 9 on the list was well below the average of 9.1.
#9 TJ Warren
Average Ranking: 6.9
TJ Warren exploded onto the scene last year, especially in the Orlando Bubble. Could we at Vendetta just be buying into recency bias? Maybe. Either way, 9th is not a bad place for Warren. If he plays anything like he did last year, he should shoot up next year’s rankings for sure.
#8 DeMar DeRozan
Average Ranking: 6.8
DeMar DeRozan narrowly beat TJ Warren on this list. This is mostly because of Trey Daubert who had him…let’s just say it was low. His thoughts on DeMar DeRozan’s ranking:
“I didn’t vote for DeMar DeRozan in my top 20. I was surprised to see him so high on the list. I think he is one of the league’s biggest cancers. The Spurs have made the playoffs pretty much every year of my life. The streak gets broken when DeRozan is the lead dog. Weird how that works.” -Trey Daubert
As a Spurs fan, I did remind Trey that the Spurs made the playoffs in 2019 with DeMar DeRozan. He responded that their seed was low at 7 though. DeMar DeRozan is a top 10 SF though, there shouldn’t be any doubt about that.
#7 Gordon Hayward
Average Ranking: 6.5
Are you seeing how close these average rankings are? You would think there would be more controversy within Vendetta. There were no complaints with Hayward at 7. Despite being injury-prone, we all can recognize Hayward’s talent when he is healthy. I will say Trey had Hayward higher than anyone else with him ranked at 6. Everyone else was 8 or lower for Hayward.
#6 Khris Middleton
Average Ranking: 6.3
This is the last ranking that has an average with a 6 in it. That means 6-9 could have almost been in any order, depending on if some hanged their rankings. I may not be as high on Middleton as others. I had Middleton at the lowest with an 8. Dacota and Jarrod had Middleton as high as 5. 6 seems like a fitting spot for Middleton though.
#5 Brandon Ingram
Average Ranking: 5.5
Brandon Ingram rounds out our top 5 in our NBA Small Forwards ranked list. Brandon Ingram for me personally shot up my rankings after his year last year. I knew BI was talented and it finally showed after last season. I had him as high as 4 this ranking. Everyone else had either a 5 or 6, and one had him at a 7. Either way, Brandon Ingram is young and still can improve, that is a super scary thought considering he is already 4 on this list.
#4 Jimmy Butler
Average Ranking: 4
Jimmy Butler was the consensus 4 spot. I listed him at 5 in my rankings. I was the lowest. Everyone else had him at 4, except Dacota, he had him at 3. His thoughts on Jimmy Butler:
“In past years I would not have placed Butler in the top 5, but he proved his worth against LeBron in the Finals by posting not one, but two triple-doubles to help the Heat win games in the Finals.” -Dacota Haynes
#3 Kawhi Leonard
Average Ranking: 2.6
In our top 3 of our NBA Small Forwards ranked list there were no complaints about Kawhi’s ranking here. Everyone here had him in the top 3. No one dared put him as the best SF in the league though. There were 4 people that ranked him as 3, and 2 people that ranked him at 2. Kawhi at 3 is a completely fair ranking compared to the last 2 people on this list.
#2 Kevin Durant
Average Ranking: 2
Kevin Durant was the consistent 2 best player at the SF position for us. 3 of us had Kevin Durant at 1 (Me, Trey, and Jackson). While Karl, Jarrod, and Dacota ranked him 2, 3, and 4 respectively. Dacota was mad about this ranking and revealed his thoughts on the ranking.
KD should not be this high, I placed him at four because he was not able to win a championship with Westbrook in OKC. He had to join a champion team already to win, why does he have a shot now? – Dacota Haynes
If you remember correctly (I would hope so unless you have my memory) Dacota had Jimmy Butler at 3 in his SF rankings. Trey addressed that after seeing Kevin Durant at 4.
” I love Jimmy Butler. He’s my kind of guy. But the idea that Butler is even in that conversation with Durant is Looney Tunes. People have bad memories it’s a shame.
I personally agree with Trey here, obviously with me ranking him at 1. Kevin Durant is one of the best I’ve seen. Sure, he’s weak as fuck for joining the Warriors, but he’s still one of the best players and scorers I’ve seen. I would have settled for any top 3 ranking for him, but I feel like Trey is right, 4 is too low.
#1 LeBron James
Average Ranking: 1.5
Even though half of us put LeBron at 2 and the other half at 1. No one dared to put LeBron lower than that. He did just win a championship after all and is in the debate for GOAT. Sure, he is 36 now and will hit Father Time (eventually, who knows when). LeBron James is the consensus #1 SF in the league for us right now. I can’t be mad about the ranking either. Until proven otherwise, who says the King shouldn’t be at the top?
Just Missed The Cut
As mentioned at the #10 spot, this ranking was quite close for that 10 spot. Closely behind Oubre Jr. there was Tobias Harris who had a ranking of 9.25, OG Anunoby with a ranking of 10.2, and Jonathan Isaac with 11.3. OG almost snuck into the rankings by Jarrod and Trey themselves with them ranking him 9 and 10, while everyone else had him at 15 or above. Are our rankings right? Is there any that you disagree with? Not that we care, but we’re always curious on who’s opinion we shouldn’t take seriously.
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