The small forward position in the NBA is historically one of the best positions in history. Dr. J, Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor, Scottie Pippen, and many more NBA legends all spent their careers at the small forward position. The decade of the 2000s was no different as far as legendary small forwards go. The small forwards of this decade brought home multiple MVP awards, led their teams to the NBA Finals and even delivered championships to their respective franchises. Of course, some of these small forwards were specialists as well. There were elite defenders, shooters, and scorers whose sole purpose was to hone that specific craft and help lead their teams to victory.
The 2000s in the NBA was one of the most competitive eras in history. The decade belonged to Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tim Duncan, but there were plenty of stars, including at the small forward position, who were on the rise and began to make a name for themselves. On our list of the 10 best small forwards of the 2000s, you will see players who have been to the top of the mountain as far as their NBA careers go and took home countless individual honors as the decade went on. Get ready for one of our most exciting lists yet.
Here are the 10 best small forwards from the 2000s.
10. Danny Granger
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
1x Most Improved Player
1x All-Star
When NBA fans speak about Danny Granger, it is usually in a “what could have been” capacity. Granger was an athletic small forward who could score in bursts using his sweet jumper and lengthy frame to punish smaller defenders. On defense, his length and speed confused opponents, as Granger would cause turnover after turnover by deflecting passes or even getting himself a few weak side blocks that would lead to transitioning baskets on the other end. Granger was a pure scorer and a few great seasons during the 2000s landed him here at the No. 10 spot on our list.
The first great season of Granger’s career came in 2007-08 when he averaged 19.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.2 SPG, and 1.1 BPG. He shot 44.6% overall and 40.4% from deep, but the Pacers won just 36 games and missed the playoffs. The following season would be Granger’s best as a pro. In 2008-09, Granger was chosen as the NBA’s Most Improved Player and earned the only All-Star selection of his career. He averaged 25.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.0 SPG, and 1.4 BPG on 44.7% shooting overall and once again 40.4% from deep. Any 2000s basketball fan will tell you just how good Granger was at his peak and that is exactly what puts him here on our list today.
9. Caron Butler
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
2x All-Star
Caron Butler played basketball with an edge. He was a tough and gritty small forward who played aggressively and like every possession could be his last. He was a complete player who could score, defend, facilitate, and was as versatile as they come. He often played bigger than his size and became quite the rebounder from his position. His passing was a big part of his game, as well as the leadership he displayed in the huddle or off of the court.
Butler spent the 2000s with the Heat, Lakers, and Wizards with his best years coming later in the decade with Washington. In 2006-07, Butler earned his first All-Star selection when he averaged 19.1 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 2.1 SPG on 46.3% shooting. He followed that season up in 2007-08 with another All-Star selection averaging 20.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 4.9 APG, and 2.2 SPG on 46.6% shooting. He would not earn an All-Star selection in 2008-09 but still was a 20.8 PPG scorer along with 6.2 RPG and 4.3 APG.
8. Andrei Kirilenko
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
1x All-Star
3x All-Defensive Team Selection
Andrei Kirilenko is one of the specialist players I was speaking about in my introduction. He was a solid and consistent offensive player, but AK47 was on the floor to do one thing: shut down the opposing team’s best player. Kirilenko embodied the word versatility and could do anything he wanted on the basketball court. He was an all-around weapon on the basketball court and he filled the stat sheet like nobody else could at the time and the proof is in the numbers.
Kirilenko stood at 6’9″ but almost seemed shorter because of his spindly build. However, he played like he was 10 feet tall, recording over 2.0 BPG 5 different times in his career, and led the league in 2004-05 with 3.3 BPG. On 3 different occasions in his career, Kirilenko recorded a 5×5 game where he recorded at least 5 points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. He made 3 straight All-Defensive Teams from 2004 through 2006, while being a consistent 15.0 PPG scorer. Kirilenko was a true Swiss Army knife on the court and there haven’t been many players like him since his career came to an end.
7. Metta World Peace
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
1x Defensive Player Of The Year
1x All-NBA Team Selection
4x All-Defensive Team Selection
The artist formerly known as Ron Artest, Metta World Peace, was the resident bad boy of the 2000s NBA. He often found himself getting into trouble on the court and making headlines off of it with his odd behavior. However, World Peace was misunderstood, and quite easily one of the best defenders of the decade. Players would feel like they had just returned from war after a night of being defended by Worl Peace, covered in bruises from his rough and physical style of play. Peace would slap at the ball with authority and no regard for the other player’s well-being. He also led with his shoulder on defense, which often landed in the opposing player’s chest. He was truly one of a kind and well-deserving of a mention on our list today.
World Peace earned himself 4 All-Defensive Team selections during the 2000s with the Bulls and Pacers. For the entirety of the decade, he averaged 16.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.2 APG, 2.1 SPG, and 0.6 BPG. In the 2003-04 season with the Indiana Pacers, he earned his only All-Star selection and won Defensive Player of the Year. That season, he averaged 18.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.3 SPG, and 0.7 BPG. He would eventually win an NBA championship in 2010 with the Los Angeles Lakers and go down as one of the most polarizing personalities in NBA history.
6. Grant Hill
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
3x All-Star
1x All-NBA Team Selection
Grant Hill was supposed to be the heir apparent to Michael Jordan and take over the league once he had left. Plans were derailed when he suffered major ankle injuries at the beginning of the 2000s, but Hill was so good that he still finds himself quite easily a Top 10 small forward of the decade. Hill was a smooth scorer who displayed elite athleticism that allowed him to score freely with good shooting and quick moves in the paint to the basket. You couldn’t give Hill an inch of space with the ball in his hands because he would either knock down the shot in your face or blow right by you on the drive. Anybody who watched Hill play knew just how special he was.
Hill began the 2000s decade, much how he left off the 90s with the Detroit Pistons. In 2000, Hill averaged 25.8 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 5.2 APG, and 1.2 SPG on 48.9% shooting. During that playoff stretch, Hill suffered an ankle injury that would alter his career forever. He played just 57 games over the next 4 years and missed the entire 2004 season with the same ankle injury. In 2005, Hill had a resurgent season that saw him average 19.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 3.3 APG, and 1.4 SPG with the Orlando Magic and was selected as an All-Star. Although he could never get back to his 90s form, a 60% Grant Hill is better than most small forwards during the 2000s.
5. Shawn Marion
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
4x All-Star
2x All-NBA Team Selection
Shawn Marion is the definition of a superstar role player. Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire get most of the credit for the Phoenix Suns’ success in the 2000s, but Marion is the engine that made the whole team go. He was an off-ball disruptor that baited opponents into bad turnovers and could even get his hands in on the most difficult of passes to defend. He was versatile in the sense that he could go to the top of the key and take on point guards while also possessing the strength and awareness to take on the game’s best power forwards in the paint. The fact that Marion never made an All-Defensive Team in his career is criminal.
Marion was an all-around player who was recognized for his defense by fans. His offensive game was quite excellent as well. In his 8-and-a-half seasons with the Suns, Marion averaged 18.3 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 1.9 SPG, and 1.3 BPG. His best all-around season came in 2004. Marion earned his 3rd All-Star selection while averaging a career-high 21.8 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 2.1 SPG, and 1.3 BPG. Marion gets so much unnecessary shade thrown his way because his jump shot was unorthodox. The truth is that the Suns aren’t contenders for the Western Conference crown every season without The Matrix.
4. Peja Stojakovic
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
3x All-Star
1x All-NBA Team Selection
The Sacramento Kings in the early 2000s were one of the most exciting teams in basketball. A big part of the reason why was a sharpshooting small forward named Peja Stojakovic. Peja was one of the best in the NBA at reading spacing on the floor and could get open any way he wanted to. He wasn’t a black hole on offense, as many shooters are because he possessed the ability to handle the ball and get by defenders fairly easily. His height allowed him to shoot over most defenders that came out on him at the perimeter and all he needed was a half-inch of space to get his shot off and, more often than not, it went in.
As we entered the 2000s decade, Stojakovic began to enter his peak as an NBA player. He broke out in 2001 when he became a 20.4 PPG scorer on 47.0% shooting overall and 40.0% from three. He earned 3 straight All-Star selections from 2002 through 2004. He finished 4th in the MVP voting in 2004 when he averaged 24.2 PPG and 6.3 RPG on 48.0% shooting overall and 43.3% from three. The Kings in the early 2000s were a constant threat to the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs and Peja was an elite weapon that made them so.
3. Carmelo Anthony
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
2x All-Star
3x All-NBA Team Selection
Carmelo Anthony gets a bad rep for his earlier years with the Denver Nuggets as a shot chucker and black hole on offense. That usually comes from people who just look at highlights and didn’t actually watch him dominate the sport at the time. Anthony was a talented scorer who was elite at all three levels. He was a great 3-point shooter and mid-range shooter who could set himself up in any way possible. He was so strong that he was virtually unguardable in the post and if it was a smaller defender, he was backing down, forget about it. He also wasn’t this defensive liability that everyone seems to label him. He fought for rebounds and got in front of his man well enough to be considered better than a liability.
Anthony began to hit his stride with the Nuggets during his 3rd season in 2005-06. From that season until the end of the decade, Carmelo averaged 26.0 PPG and 6.3 RPG on 47.4% shooting. As a rookie, he led the Nuggets to the playoffs although they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs 5 times in a brown before 2009. That season, Melo averaged 22.8 PPG and helped get Denver to the Western Conference Finals and a legendary showdown with Kobe Bryant. Carmelo Anthony is one of the better scorers in NBA history and for that, he is the 3rd best small forward of the 2000s.
2. Paul Pierce
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
1x Finals MVP
7x All-Star
4x All-NBA Team Selection
With all due respect to the No. 1 small forward below, but Paul Pierce has an argument to take his spot. Pierce’s game is difficult to dissect. At times, he looked unathletic and slow, but before you knew it, he had accumulated 25 points and 7 rebounds in the blink of an eye. Pierce could shoot it from almost anywhere on the floor, but his bread and butter came from within the arc. Pierce used his big frame and strength to set up his mid-range shots and moves to the basket. Nobody at the small forward position could really slow him down in his prime. He was an accomplished passer and defender as well. Pierce never met a moment too big or a shot with too much on the line in his career, and he delivered time after time for the Boston Celtics during the 2000s.
For the entire decade of the 2000s, Pierce averaged 23.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 4.3 APG, and 1.5 SPG on 44.3% shooting and 36.3% from three. His best regular season came in 2006 when he averaged 26.8 PPG and 6.7 RPG on 45.5% shooting. Nothing compares to the season he had in 2008 when he, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen led the Celtics to the NBA championship, the team’s first since the days of Larry Bird. Pierce took home Finals MVP in 6 games over the Los Angeles Lakers and averaged 21.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 6.3 APG. Pierce is the only player on this list today who won a championship during the 2000s.
1. LeBron James
1999-00 to 2008-09 Accolades:
1x MVP
1x Rookie Of The Year
5x All-Star
1x All-Star Game MVP
5x All-NBA Team Selection
1x All-Defensive Team Selection
Were you expecting somebody else? At the age of 18 years old, LeBron James was tasked with the burden of turning a losing franchise into a title contender. That is exactly what he did as the career of one of the best players in NBA history had just begun. James in the 2000s was a special talent to watch. He was as complete of a player as he was at his peak and took over games with his scoring, passing, and defense. James even put the franchise on his back and led them to an NBA championship as a young man, only to be swept by the San Antonio Spurs. Regardless of the loss, I don’t know of any 18-year-old that can be tasked with the amount of pressure LeBron was under and smash the expectations the way he has in his career.
For the entire decade of the 2000s, LeBron averaged 27.5 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 6.7 APG, and 1.8 SPG. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2004 and led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007. For the playoffs in the decade, LeBron averaged 29.4 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 7.3 APG, and 1.6 SPG. He would be named the MVP in 2009 when he averaged 28.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 7.2 APG on 48.9% shooting. LeBron may not have yet been the legend that we know him as today, but during the 2000s, there was simply not a better all-around small forward in the NBA than LeBron James.
