Alex Caruso vs. Kawhi Leonard Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Kawhi Leonard and Alex Caruso, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Alex Caruso played 8 years in the NBA, 5 less than Kawhi Leonard, who played 13. Alex Caruso had the first of his seasons in 2017-18, while Kawhi Leonard had his rookie season in 2011-12. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achievements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Rookie Season
	Alex Caruso	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2017-18	2011-12
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs Lost West Conf Finals

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Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	37	15.2	3.6	0.4	1.4	1.8	2.0	0.6	0.3	1.1	1.4	1.4	3.1	.431	0.4	1.2	.302	0.6	0.8	.700
difference:	+27	+8.8	+4.3	+1.2	+2.1	+3.3	+0.9	+0.7	+0.1	-0.4		+1.7	+3.2	+.062	+0.2	+0.5	+.074	+0.5	+0.6	+.073
Kawhi Leonard	64	24.0	7.9	1.6	3.5	5.1	1.1	1.3	0.4	0.7	1.4	3.1	6.3	.493	0.6	1.7	.376	1.1	1.4	.773
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kawhi Leonard	14	27.1	8.6	1.3	4.6	5.9	0.6	1.2	0.4	0.9	1.6	3.2	6.4	.500	1.3	2.9	.450	0.9	1.1	.813

Season 3
	Alex Caruso	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2019-20	2013-14
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
Playoffs	NBA Champion	NBA Champion

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3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	64	18.4	5.5	0.3	1.7	1.9	1.9	1.1	0.3	0.8	1.5	1.9	4.5	.412	0.6	1.9	.333	1.1	1.5	.734
difference:	+2	+10.7	+7.3	+0.9	+3.4	+4.3	+0.1	+0.6	+0.5	-0.4	-0.4	+3.2	+5.3	+.110	+0.4	+0.9	+.046	+0.4	+0.4	+.068
Kawhi Leonard	66	29.1	12.8	1.2	5.1	6.2	2.0	1.7	0.8	1.2	1.9	5.1	9.8	.522	1.0	2.8	.379	1.5	1.9	.802
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	21	24.3	6.5	0.7	1.6	2.3	2.8	1.1	0.6	1.5	2.6	2.3	5.4	.425	0.8	2.9	.279	1.1	1.4	.800
difference:	+2	+7.7	+7.8	+0.6	+3.8	+4.4	+1.1	+0.6		-0.2	-0.3	+3.0	+5.0	+.085	+0.5	+0.3	+.140	+1.2	+1.7	+.064
Kawhi Leonard	23	32.0	14.3	1.3	5.4	6.7	1.7	1.7	0.6	1.3	2.9	5.3	10.4	.510	1.3	3.2	.419	2.3	3.1	.736

Season 4
	Alex Caruso	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2020-21	2014-15
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	Defensive Player of the Year
	-	Steals Leader
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Spurs Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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4th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	58	21.0	6.4	0.5	2.4	2.9	2.8	1.1	0.3	1.3	1.9	2.3	5.3	.436	0.9	2.4	.401	0.8	1.3	.645
difference:	+6	+10.8	+10.1	+0.8	+3.5	+4.3	+0.3	+1.2	+0.5	-0.2	-0.1	+3.9	+7.5	+.043	+0.1	+0.6	+.052	+2.4	+2.6	+.157
Kawhi Leonard	64	31.8	16.5	1.3	5.9	7.2	2.5	2.3	0.8	1.5	2.0	6.2	12.8	.479	1.0	3.0	.349	3.2	3.9	.802
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	6	20.2	5.8	0.3	1.0	1.3	0.5	0.2	0.7	1.2	2.0	2.3	6.3	.368	0.8	2.8	.294	0.3	0.3	1.000
difference:	+1	+15.5	+14.5	+1.6	+4.6	+6.1	+2.1	+0.9	+0.1	-0.9	-0.6	+5.1	+9.3	+.109	+0.8	+0.9	+.129	+3.6	+4.7	+.229
Kawhi Leonard	7	35.7	20.3	1.9	5.6	7.4	2.6	1.1	0.6	2.1	2.6	7.4	15.6	.477	1.6	3.7	.423	3.9	5.0	.771

Season 5
	Alex Caruso	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2021-22	2015-16
Team	Chicago Bulls	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	Defensive Player of the Year
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Bulls Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Spurs Lost West Conf Semis

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5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	41	28.0	7.4	0.8	2.8	3.6	4.0	1.7	0.4	1.4	2.6	2.5	6.2	.398	1.0	3.1	.333	1.4	1.8	.795
difference:	+31	+5.1	+13.8	+0.5	+2.7	+3.2	+1.4	+0.1	+0.6	-0.1	-0.8	+5.2	+8.9	+.108	+0.8	+0.9	+.110	+2.7	+2.8	+.079
Kawhi Leonard	72	33.1	21.2	1.3	5.5	6.8	2.6	1.8	1.0	1.5	1.8	7.7	15.1	.506	1.8	4.0	.443	4.1	4.6	.874
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	4	28.3	6.3	0.5	2.3	2.8	4.3	1.3	1.0	0.3	2.8	2.3	5.8	.391	1.8	4.5	.389	0.0	0.0	-
difference:	+6	+5.6	+16.2	+0.9	+2.6	+3.5	+1.5	+1.3	+0.4	-1.3	-0.7	+6.0	+10.8	+.109	+0.1	+0.6	+.047	+4.2	+5.1
Kawhi Leonard	10	33.9	22.5	1.4	4.9	6.3	2.8	2.6	1.4	1.6	2.1	8.3	16.6	.500	1.7	3.9	.436	4.2	5.1	.824

Season 6
	Alex Caruso	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2022-23	2016-17
Team	Chicago Bulls	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-Defensive First Team	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs Lost West Conf Finals

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6th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	67	23.5	5.6	0.6	2.3	2.9	2.9	1.5	0.7	1.1	2.4	1.9	4.3	.455	0.8	2.3	.364	0.9	1.1	.808
difference:	+7	+9.9	+19.9	+0.5	+2.4	+2.9	+0.6	+0.3		-1.0	-0.8	+6.7	+13.4	+.030	+1.2	+2.9	+.016	+5.4	+6.1	+.072
Kawhi Leonard	74	33.4	25.5	1.1	4.7	5.8	3.5	1.8	0.7	2.1	1.6	8.6	17.7	.485	2.0	5.2	.380	6.3	7.2	.880
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kawhi Leonard	12	35.8	27.7	1.6	6.2	7.8	4.6	1.7	0.5	2.2	1.8	8.8	16.8	.525	2.1	4.6	.455	7.9	8.5	.931

Season 7
	Alex Caruso	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2023-24	2017-18
Team	Chicago Bulls	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	All-Defensive Second Team	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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7th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	71	28.7	10.1	0.9	3.0	3.8	3.5	1.7	1.0	1.4	2.5	3.6	7.6	.468	1.9	4.7	.408	1.0	1.4	.760
difference:	+62	+5.4	+6.1	+0.2	+1.0	+0.9	+1.2	+0.3		-0.4	-1.5	+2.2	+4.7		+0.7	+0.8	+.094	+2.4	+2.8	+.056
Kawhi Leonard	9	23.3	16.2	0.7	4.0	4.7	2.3	2.0	1.0	1.8	1.0	5.8	12.3	.468	1.2	3.9	.314	3.4	4.2	.816
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Alex Caruso nor Kawhi Leonard played in the postseason in their season 7

Season 8
	Alex Caruso	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2024-25	2018-19
Team	Oklahoma City Thunder	Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	NBA Champion	NBA Champion

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8th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	54	19.3	7.1	0.7	2.2	2.9	2.5	1.6	0.6	0.7	1.9	2.6	5.8	.446	1.1	3.1	.353	0.8	0.9	.824
difference:	+6	+14.7	+19.5	+0.6	+3.8	+4.4	+0.8	+0.2	+0.2	-1.3	-0.4	+6.7	+13.0	+.050	+0.8	+1.9	+.018	+5.3	+6.2	+.030
Kawhi Leonard	60	34.0	26.6	1.3	6.0	7.3	3.3	1.8	0.4	2.0	1.5	9.3	18.8	.496	1.9	5.0	.371	6.1	7.1	.854
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Alex Caruso	23	24.4	9.2	0.7	2.0	2.7	2.2	2.0	0.6	0.8	2.7	3.1	7.0	.450	1.6	3.9	.411	1.3	1.7	.795
difference:	+1	+14.7	+21.3	+1.6	+4.8	+6.4	+1.7	+0.3	+0.1	-2.3	-0.4	+7.0	+13.7	+.040	+0.7	+2.1	+.032	+6.7	+7.3	+.089
Kawhi Leonard	24	39.1	30.5	2.3	6.8	9.1	3.9	1.7	0.7	3.1	2.3	10.1	20.7	.490	2.3	6.0	.379	8.0	9.0	.884

Additional Years
* Kawhi Leonard played 5 seasons more than Alex Caruso in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 9 to 13, from 2020 to 2025—Kawhi Leonard played in 5 Playoffs. In those 5 extra years over Alex Caruso, Kawhi Leonard got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA First Team 2 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Defensive Second Team 3 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP