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Small forward is arguably the most challenging positions in all of basketball. Requiring the speed of a shooting guard with the power of a power forward, it requires brains and brawn in order to become one of the greats. If&nbsp;you're looking for the best 80s small forwards, this list is perfect for you! Take a look at this list of the top 1980s <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-current-nba-small-forwards/ranker-nba?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">NBA small forwards</a> and vote for the ones you like! Don't think someone should be on this best NBA SFs 1980s list? Vote them down!One can't talk about the best SFs of the 80s and 90s without bringing up the legend, Larry Bird. but there are plenty of others as well! Clyde Drexler is considered to be one of the greatest NBA small forwards of the 1980s, as is the estimable Detlef Schrempf. With this list of NBA small forwards from the 80s, you really can't go wrong.So take a look at this list of 1980s small forwards and vote for your favorites! Then take a look at some of our other lists across the decades and see how your favorites stack up!&nbsp;

Best '80s Small Forwards | Greatest 1980s NBA SFs

The Greatest Small Forwards of the 1980s

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Larry Bird

Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, former coach, and former executive who most recently served as President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "The Hick from French Lick," Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Drafted into the NBA by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Bird started at small forward and power forward for the Celtics for 13 seasons. Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three consecutive times (1984–1986). He played his entire professional career for Boston, winning three NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards. Bird was also a member of the gold-medal-winning 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team known as "The Dream Team". He was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame again in 2010 as a member of "The Dream Team".
After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1997-1998 season and later led the Pacers to a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals. In 2003, Bird was named President of Basketball Operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012. He was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as President of Basketball Operations in 2013 and remained in that role until 2017.
As of 2019, Bird is the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, NBA Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.

Julius Erving

Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American retired basketball player who helped popularize a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and playing above the rim.  Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA) and was the best-known player in that league when it merged with the National Basketball Association (NBA) after the 1975–76 season. 
Erving won three championships, four Most Valuable Player Awards, and three scoring titles with the ABA's Virginia Squires and New York Nets (now the NBA's Brooklyn Nets) and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.  He is the eighth-highest scorer in ABA/NBA history with 30,026 points (NBA and ABA combined).  He was well known for slam dunking from the free throw line in slam dunk contests and was the only player voted Most Valuable Player in both the ABA and the NBA.
Erving was inducted in 1993 into the Basketball Hall of Fame and was also named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time team. In 1994, Erving was named by Sports Illustrated as one of the 40 most important athletes of all time. In 2004, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame.
Many consider him one of the most talented players in the history of the NBA; he is widely acknowledged as one of the game's best dunkers. While Connie Hawkins, "Jumping" Johnny Green, Elgin Baylor, Jim Pollard and Gus Johnson performed spectacular dunks before Erving's time, Erving brought the practice into the mainstream. His signature dunk was the "slam" dunk, since incorporated into the vernacular and basic skill set of the game in the same manner as the "crossover" dribble and the "no look" pass. Before Erving, dunking was a practice most commonly used by the big men (usually standing close to the hoop) to show their brutal strength which was seen as style over substance, even unsportsmanlike, by many purists of the game. However, the way Erving utilized the dunk more as a high-percentage shot made at the end of maneuvers generally starting well away from the basket and not necessarily a "show of force" helped to make the shot an acceptable strategy, especially in trying to avoid a blocked shot. Although the slam dunk is still widely used as a show of power, a method of intimidation and a way to fire up a team (and spectators), Erving demonstrated that there can be great artistry and almost balletic style to slamming the ball into the hoop, particularly after a launch several feet from that target.

Dominique Wilkins

Jacques Dominique Wilkins (born January 12, 1960) is an American retired professional basketball player who primarily played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Wilkins was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and is widely viewed as one of the best dunkers in NBA history, earning the nickname "The Human Highlight Film". In 2006, Wilkins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
In addition to his eleven seasons with the Hawks, Wilkins had short stints with the Los Angeles Clippers, the Boston Celtics, Panathinaikos Athens (a professional team in Greece's top-tier level Greek Basket League, with whom he won his first titles, the FIBA European League and the Greek Cup), Fortitudo Bologna (a professional team in Italy's top-tier level LBA), the San Antonio Spurs, and the Orlando Magic before he retired in 1999.

George Gervin

George Gervin (born April 27, 1952), nicknamed "The Iceman", is an American retired professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Virginia Squires, San Antonio Spurs, and Chicago Bulls. Gervin averaged at least 14 points per game in all 14 of his ABA and NBA seasons, and finished with an NBA career average of 26.2 points per game. In 1996, Gervin was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.

James Worthy

James Ager Worthy (born February 27, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently a commentator, television host, and analyst. Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, "Big Game James" was a seven-time NBA All-Star, three-time NBA champion, and the 1988 NBA Finals MVP with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
A standout at the University of North Carolina, the 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) small forward shared College Player of the Year honors en route to leading the Tar Heels to the 1982 NCAA Championship.  Named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, he was No. 1 pick of the 1982 NBA draft of the defending NBA champion Lakers.

Alex English

Alexander English (born January 5, 1954) is an American retired basketball player. He was most recently an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball at the University of South Carolina.
Upon his arrival in Denver in 1980, English commenced an assault on the NBA scoring books. With the erratic, fast-paced, and high-scoring Nuggets, he averaged 21 points through the final 24 games of the 1979-80 season, then proceeded with averages of 24, 25, 28, 26, 28, nearly 30 (in the 1985–86 season), 29, 25, 27, and 18 points per game during his decade-long scoring spree. He also led the Nuggets to nine consecutive playoff appearances, two Midwest Division titles, and the 1985 Western Conference Finals. English set 31 team records throughout his decade in Denver, and was the leading scorer in 55% of the games he played for the Nuggets.
In total, English played 15 seasons in the NBA for four teams, averaging 21.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game during his NBA career. He was named to eight NBA All-Star teams and made the All-NBA Second Team three times. His number 2 jersey was retired by the Denver Nuggets in 1992 and he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.

Clyde Drexler

Clyde Austin Drexler (born June 22, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player who is the commissioner of the Big3  3-on-3 basketball league. Nicknamed "Clyde the Glide", he played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), spending a majority of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers before finishing with the Houston Rockets. He was a ten-time NBA All-Star and named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Drexler won an NBA championship with Houston in 1995, and earned a gold medal on the 1992 United States Olympic team known as "The Dream Team". He was inducted twice into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, in 2004 for his individual career and in 2010 as a member of the "Dream Team". He currently serves as a color commentator for Houston Rockets home games.

Scottie Pippen

Scotty Maurice Pippen (born September 25, 1965), commonly spelled Scottie Pippen, is an American former professional basketball player. He played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. Pippen, along with Michael Jordan, played an important role in transforming the Bulls into a championship team and in popularizing the NBA around the world during the 1990s.Considered one of the greatest small forwards of all time, Pippen was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team eight consecutive times and the All-NBA First Team three times. He was a seven-time NBA All-Star and was the NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1994. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History during the 1996–97 season, and is one of four players to have his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls (the others being Jerry Sloan, Bob Love, and Michael Jordan). He played a main role on both the 1992 Chicago Bulls Championship team and the 1996 Chicago Bulls Championship team which were selected as two of the Top 10 Teams in NBA History. His biography on the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's website states, "The multidimensional Pippen ran the court like a point guard, attacked the boards like a power forward, and swished the nets like a shooting guard." During his 17-year career, he played 12 seasons with the Bulls, one with the Houston Rockets and four with the Portland Trail Blazers, making the postseason sixteen straight times.
Pippen is the only NBA player to have won an NBA title and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice (1992, 1996). He was a part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" which beat its opponents by an average of 44 points. Pippen was also a key figure in the 1996 Olympic team, alongside former Dream Team members Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Charles Barkley as well as newer faces such as Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway and Grant Hill. He wore number 8 during both years.
Pippen is a two-time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (for his individual career, and as a member of the "Dream Team"), having been inducted for both on August 13, 2010. On December 8, 2005, the Chicago Bulls retired his number #33, while his college, University of Central Arkansas, retired his number #33 on January 21, 2010, as well.

Adrian Dantley

Adrian Delano Dantley (born February 28, 1956) is an American retired basketball player who played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A forward and six-time NBA All-Star, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2010, he was appointed acting head coach of the Denver Nuggets in the absence of stricken head coach George Karl.

Chris Mullin

Christopher Paul Mullin (born July 30, 1963) is an American retired professional basketball player and former head coach of the St. John's Red Storm. He previously served as special advisor for the Sacramento Kings and general manager of the Golden State Warriors. He is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (in 2010 as a member of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team ("The Dream Team"), and in 2011 for his individual career).
Mullin played shooting guard and small forward in the NBA from 1985 to 2001. During his playing time at St. John's University, he was named Big East Player of the Year three times and was a member of the 1984 U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball team, Mullin was chosen as the seventh pick by the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 1985 NBA draft.  He returned to the Olympics in 1992 as a member of the "Dream Team", which was the first American Olympic basketball team to include professional players.
He played with the Warriors from the 1985–86 until the 1996–97 season. Thereafter, Mullin played with the Indiana Pacers from 1997 until the 1999–2000 season. He retired after the 2000–01 season, playing for his original team, the Warriors.
On March 30, 2015, he was named 20th head coach of the St. John's University men's basketball team, his alma mater. On April 9, 2019 he stepped down as the head coach of the St. John's University men's basketball team.



Bernard King

Bernard King (born December 4, 1956) is an American retired professional basketball player at the small forward position in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 14 seasons with the New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Washington Bullets. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 8, 2013. His younger brother, Albert, also played in the NBA during his career.

David Thompson

David O'Neil Thompson (born July 13, 1954) is an American retired professional basketball player. He played with the Denver Nuggets of both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA. He was previously a star in college for North Carolina State, leading the Wolfpack to its first NCAA championship in 1974. Thompson is one of the six players to score 70 or more points in an NBA game. Thompson was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996.
Thompson was known for his exceptional leaping ability that enabled him to become one of the game's premier dunkers in the 1970s, which earned him the nickname of "Skywalker". Michael Jordan said, "The whole meaning of vertical leap began with David Thompson." Bill Walton described Thompson as "Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and LeBron James rolled into one".

Mark Aguirre

Mark Anthony Aguirre (born December 10, 1959) is an American retired basketball player in the National Basketball Association. Aguirre was chosen as the first overall pick of the 1981 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks after playing three years at DePaul University. Aguirre played in the NBA from 1981 until 1994 and won two championships with the Detroit Pistons after being traded to Detroit from Dallas in exchange for Adrian Dantley. Aguirre was a three-time All-Star for Dallas.

Larry Nance

Larry Donnell Nance Sr. (born February 12, 1959) is an American retired professional basketball player.  A 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) forward from Clemson University, Nance played 13 seasons (1981–1994) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Bobby Jones

Robert Clyde Jones (born December 18, 1951) is an American retired professional basketball player in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA).

Kiki Vandeweghe

Ernest Maurice "Kiki" VanDeWeghe III (born August 1, 1958) is an American basketball executive. He serves as the Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations of the National Basketball Association (NBA). VanDeWeghe is a retired professional basketball player and was formerly the general manager of the Denver Nuggets and the New Jersey Nets, and a head coach of the Nets.
VanDeWeghe was born in Wiesbaden, West Germany, the son of former NBA player Ernie Vandeweghe and Colleen Kay Hutchins, the winner of the 1952 Miss America pageant. He is also the nephew of another NBA player, four-time All-Star Mel Hutchins. He has a niece, Coco Vandeweghe, who is a professional tennis player. VanDeWeghe and his wife Peggy have one son, Ernest Maurice VanDeWeghe IV, born in 2002.
As a player, VanDeWeghe was regarded as an excellent scorer and outside shooter, averaging 20 points for seven consecutive seasons. He was particularly known for his use of the stepback, a move he was so proficient at that it was often referred to as the "Kiki Move" toward the end of his career. VanDeWeghe's teams qualified for the NBA playoffs in 12 of his 13 seasons in the league, although none of his teams ever won the NBA championship.
For the bulk of his career, VanDeWeghe spelled his surname "Vandeweghe" (with only the V capitalized), a spelling used by his parents before their deaths, and still used by his niece who has a prominent tennis career. In 2013, he announced he was changing the spelling of his name to "VanDeWeghe", in honor of his recently departed paternal grandfather and namesake.

Marques Johnson

Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American retired professional basketball player. The small forward played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1977–1989, where he was a five-time All-Star. He spent the majority of his career with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Johnson was a Los Angeles City Section player of the year in high school before attending the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins and won a national championship in 1975.  In his senior year, he won multiple national player of the year awards. Johnson was the third overall pick in the 1977 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.  He played seven seasons with Milwaukee before finishing his NBA career with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors. He is currently a basketball analyst for Fox Sports Net.

Cedric Maxwell

Cedric Bryan Maxwell (born November 21, 1955) is an American retired professional basketball player now in radio broadcasting. Nicknamed "Cornbread", he played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and played a key role in two championships with the Boston Celtics.



Detlef Schrempf

Detlef Schrempf (born 21 January 1963) is a German-American retired professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Washington Huskies from 1981 to 1985, and was drafted into the National Basketball Association (NBA) by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 1985 NBA draft, with the eighth overall pick. He was an All-NBA Third Team member in 1995, a three-time NBA All-Star and the NBA Sixth Man of the Year twice.
Schrempf played in the NBA for sixteen seasons, including stints with the Indiana Pacers, the Seattle SuperSonics, and the Portland Trail Blazers. In 1996, he reached the NBA Finals with the SuperSonics. He played for the West German, and later German, national team in the 1984 and 1992 Summer Olympics and the 1983 and 1985 EuroBasket championships.

Jamaal Wilkes

Jamaal Abdul-Lateef (born Jackson Keith Wilkes; May 2, 1953), better known as Jamaal Wilkes, nicknamed "Silk", is an American retired basketball player who played the small forward position and won four NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers. He was a three-time NBA All-Star and the 1975 NBA Rookie of the Year. In college, Wilkes was a key player on two NCAA championship teams under coach John Wooden for the UCLA Bruins. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and his jersey No. 52 was retired by both the Lakers and the Bruins.
Wilkes converted to Islam and legally changed his name to Jamaal Abdul-Lateef in 1975, but he continued to use his birth surname only for purposes of public recognition.

Walter Davis

Walter Pearl Davis (born September 9, 1954) is a retired American basketball player. A 6'6" forward/guard, Davis spent 15 years in the National Basketball Association, spending the bulk of those years with the Phoenix Suns.

Kelly Tripucka

Peter Kelly Tripucka (born February 16, 1959), is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1991.  He was a two time NBA All Star and averaged over twenty points a game in five of the ten season that he played in. Tripucka played for the Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz and was a member of the Charlotte Hornets during their inaugural season in the NBA.  The son of NFL Pro-Bowl (and CFL) quarterback Frank Tripucka, Kelly was a color analyst for the New York Knicks for four years, ending with the 2011–12 season.

Chuck Person

Chuck Connors Person (born June 28, 1964) is an American former basketball player and coach. Person played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was the 1987 NBA Rookie of the Year. Person played college basketball at Auburn University and was selected fourth overall in the 1986 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers, for whom he played six seasons. He also played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Charlotte Hornets and Seattle SuperSonics. His 17-year coaching career ended when Person was ensnared in a college recruitment scandal and pleaded guilty to a bribery charge.

Paul Pressey

Paul Matthew Pressey (born December 24, 1958) is an American former professional basketball player who previously was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Pressey is widely, though unofficially, credited with being the originator of the point forward position, combining the attributes of a point guard and forward. While playing small forward for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1980s, Pressey took on many of the ball handling duties, even leading the team in assists for five straight years. He participated in the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, finishing in 6th place out of 8.
Pressey, along with John Johnson, served as a model for later players taking on the point forward role.
In 1992–93, he came out of retirement while an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors to help the team deal with many injuries to other players. He played 18 games before getting injured too.
His daughter attended the University of California, Berkeley and was a member of the Golden Bear volleyball squad that was a semifinalist at the women's 2007 NCAA Final Four.  His sons Jeremiah (Paul Jr.) and Phil played basketball for Missouri.In 2010, Pressey became an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He served in that role until 2013. In September 16, 2014; he was added to Byron Scott's coaching staff for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Robert Reid

Robert Keith Reid (born August 30, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player.
An Atlanta-born 6'8" forward from St. Mary's University, Texas, Reid played thirteen seasons (1977–1982; 1983–1991) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Houston Rockets, Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Philadelphia 76ers.  He had his best overall season in 1980-81, when he was the second leading scorer on the Rockets team that reached the NBA Finals before losing to the Boston Celtics. After the Rockets traded reigning MVP Moses Malone to the Philadelphia 76ers, however, Reid retired from basketball and moved to Miami, Florida. After a year away from basketball, he returned to Houston after they drafted Ralph Sampson with the first overall pick in the 1983 NBA Draft. One of Reid's most notable moments in the NBA was his three-point shot in Game 5 of the 1986 Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers that tied the game with just seconds left, helping rally the Rockets into defeating the Lakers and reaching the 1986 NBA Finals. When he concluded his NBA career in 1991, Reid had tallied 10,448 career points, 4,168 career rebounds, and 2,500 career assists.
In recent years, Reid has hosted basketball clinics for young athletes in several countries, such as India.

Small forward is arguably the most challenging positions in all of basketball. Requiring the speed of a shooting guard with the power of a power forward, it ...