Cade Cunningham vs. Elvin Hayes Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Elvin Hayes and Cade Cunningham, 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.

Cade Cunningham played 4 years in the NBA, 12 less than Elvin Hayes, who played 16. Cade Cunningham had the first of his seasons in 2021-22, while Elvin Hayes had his rookie season in 1968-69. 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
	Cade Cunningham	Elvin Hayes
Season	2021-22	1968-69
Team	Detroit Pistons	San Diego Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Rockets Lost West Div Semis

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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		%
Cade Cunningham	64	32.6	17.4	0.9	4.6	5.5	5.6	1.2	0.7	3.7	3.1	6.7	16.1	.416	1.8	5.7	.314	2.2	2.6	.845
difference:	+18	+12.5	+11.0			+11.6	+4.2				-0.1	+4.6	+9.3	+.031				+3.5	+6.5	+.219
Elvin Hayes	82	45.1	28.4	-	-	17.1	1.4	-	-	-	3.2	11.3	25.4	.447	-	-	-	5.7	9.1	.626
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elvin Hayes	6	46.3	25.8	-	-	13.8	0.8	-	-	-	3.5	10.0	19.0	.526	-	-	-	5.8	8.8	.660

Season 2
	Cade Cunningham	Elvin Hayes
Season	2022-23	1969-70
Team	Detroit Pistons	San Diego Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	Rebounds Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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2nd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	12	33.3	19.9	1.0	5.2	6.2	6.0	0.8	0.6	3.3	2.8	7.8	18.7	.415	1.4	5.1	.279	3.0	3.6	.837
difference:	+70	+11.4	+7.6			+10.7	+4.0				-0.5	+3.3	+5.9	+.037				+2.2	+4.0	+.149
Elvin Hayes	82	44.7	27.5	-	-	16.9	2.0	-	-	-	3.3	11.1	24.6	.452	-	-	-	5.2	7.6	.688
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Cade Cunningham nor Elvin Hayes played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	Cade Cunningham	Elvin Hayes
Season	2023-24	1970-71
Team	Detroit Pistons	San Diego Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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		%
Cade Cunningham	62	33.5	22.7	0.5	3.8	4.3	7.5	0.9	0.4	3.4	2.5	8.5	18.8	.449	1.9	5.4	.355	3.8	4.4	.869
difference:	+20	+10.8	+6.0			+12.3	+5.2				-0.2	+3.1	+8.2	+.021				+1.7	+3.8	+.197
Elvin Hayes	82	44.3	28.7	-	-	16.6	2.3	-	-	-	2.7	11.6	27.0	.428	-	-	-	5.5	8.2	.672
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Cade Cunningham nor Elvin Hayes played in the postseason in their season 3

Season 4
	Cade Cunningham	Elvin Hayes
Season	2024-25	1971-72
Team	Detroit Pistons	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Pistons Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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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		%
Cade Cunningham	70	35.0	26.1	0.8	5.3	6.1	9.1	1.0	0.8	4.4	2.8	9.8	20.8	.469	2.1	6.0	.356	4.5	5.3	.846
difference:	+12	+7.2	+0.9			+8.5	+5.8					+0.3	+2.6	+.035				+0.4	+2.2	+.197
Elvin Hayes	82	42.2	25.2	-	-	14.6	3.3	-	-	-	2.8	10.1	23.4	.434	-	-	-	4.9	7.5	.649
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	6	41.3	25.0	1.0	7.3	8.3	8.7	1.8	1.3	5.3	3.3	9.2	21.5	.426	0.8	4.7	.179	5.8	7.0	.833
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Elvin Hayes played 12 seasons more than Cade Cunningham in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 16, from 1973 to 1984—Elvin Hayes played in 9 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 12 extra years over Cade Cunningham, Elvin Hayes got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Rebounds Leader 8 All-Star Game