Syracuse Basketball: The Orange's depth chart at small forward in the 2025-26 season

On paper, the Syracuse backcourt is in good shape heading into the 2025-26 season. At point guard, the Orange has two proven ACC players with Naithan George and J.J. Starling. Meanwhile, Starling and incoming freshman Kiyan Anthony figure to get most of the playing time at shooting guard.

Of course, with just one returning player in the frontcourt, there are a lot of new faces and questions to be answered. Let’s look for answers to those questions by looking at what the depth chart looks like at small forward for Syracuse basketball.

Starter: Nate Kingz

While labeled as a shooting guard, Kingz is likely to be the starting small forward for Syracuse this season. With George and Starling likely locked into the starting lineup, Kingz will be the third guard in the lineup. The Oregon State transfer shot 44.6% from the perimeter last season, helping him average 11.8 points per game. Syracuse needs a shooter like that who can help spread the floor and knock down open shots consistently. The hope is that he can provide the type of outside shooting the Orange thought Chris Bell would provide last season. But if you look at highlights of Kingz, he’s better off the bounce than you might expect. Either way, Syracuse will need him to be a reliable scorer who can hit open shots.

Backup: Kiyan Anthony

Similar to being Starling’s primary backup at shooting guard, Anthony is likely to see plenty of playing time as Syracuse’s small forward or third guard during his freshman season. The tandem of George and Starling is likely to log a lot of minutes together, so Anthony will need to play alongside them to help maximize his minutes. It’s fair to question whether he’ll be able to rebound and defend at the small forward position. But giving him minutes at small forward should benefit the Orange offensively.

Third String: Sadiq White Jr.

White is a more natural power forward, but with the return of Donnie Freeman, Adrian Autry may need to get creative to find White enough playing time. The scouting report from 247Sports describes White as an explosive athlete who is dangerous in the open court and should entertain fans with highlight-reel dunks. While Autry will likely prefer to play with three guards most of the time, White at small forward would give Syracuse a bigger and more athletic lineup. Such a lineup would probably be the Orange’s best option defensively. Syracuse fans shouldn’t expect to see a lot of White at small forward, but there will be times when it makes sense.

Emergency Option: Aaron Womack

Compared to the other incoming freshmen, Womack doesn’t have much hype. He didn’t have a lot of interest from other power-conference programs. But he does come to Syracuse with the reputation of being a “big-time shooter.” However, whether he’ll be deployed much in that role during his freshman season remains to be seen. With Kingz and Anthony expected to provide plenty of offensive firepower at the small forward position, Womack could be relegated to mop-up duty early in his career. On the other hand, you can never have enough shooters. Womack also provides a little more size than Kingz or Anthony, so he might be able to play his way into regular minutes.