Greatest NBA Basketball Forwards to Ever Play the Game

The NBA has produced some of the greatest celebrities to ever grace the planet and these few guys hit it big all because they were extremely talented, not because of off court publicity stunts or antics.

What makes the below list of NBA forwards great is their all-round skill level which includes their ability to score, defend, pass and lead.

Top 5 NBA Basketball Forwards

The Forward position for an NBA player can either be Small Forward or Power Forward, both positions play on either the left or right side of the Center. The below list of the top NBA Forwards includes both Small and Power Forwards, past and present.

5) Julius Erving – In 11 years Erving scored a total of 18,634 points while playing for the Philadelphia 76ers.

4) Karl Malone – Recent Hall of Fame inductee, Malone played in the NBA for 19 years; 18 seasons with the Jazz and 1 season with the Lakers. Malone scored a total of 36,928 points in his NBA career.

3) Larry Bird – The Bird Man spent his whole career with the Boston Celtics from 1979-1992 and won 3 NBA Finals with them. After retiring from the NBA as a player, Bird took a job with the Indiana Pacers as a GM.

2) Kevin Garnett – Garnett spent the majority of his career playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves before making his move to the Boston Celtics. KG  was vastly underrated playing for a team that barely received any national coverage prior to his move to Boston. In his career, Garnett has successfully guarded the best scorers in the game and has scored on the best defenders in the NBA time in and time out.

1) Lebron James – Love him or hate it, Lebron James can do it all and has almost done it all making it to the Eastern Conference Finals twice. It’s scary to think that Lebron James is still getting better.