Cade Cunningham vs. Kenny Smith Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Kenny Smith 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, 6 less than Kenny Smith, who played 10. Cade Cunningham had the first of his seasons in 2021-22, while Kenny Smith had his rookie season in 1987-88. 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	Kenny Smith
Season	2021-22	1987-88
Team	Detroit Pistons	Sacramento Kings
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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:	+3	+3.0	+3.6	+0.2	+3.0	+3.2	+1.5	+0.3	+0.6	-0.7	-0.8	+1.3	+4.7	+.061	+1.6	+5.1	+.006	+0.5	+0.7	+.026
Kenny Smith	61	35.6	13.8	0.7	1.6	2.3	7.1	1.5	0.1	3.0	2.3	5.4	11.4	.477	0.2	0.6	.308	2.7	3.3	.819
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Cade Cunningham nor Kenny Smith played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 4
	Cade Cunningham	Kenny Smith
Season	2024-25	1990-91
Team	Detroit Pistons	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Pistons Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Rockets 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		%
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:	+8	+0.4	+8.4	+0.3	+3.7	+4.0	+2.0	+0.4	+0.7	-1.4	-1.1	+3.1	+7.9	+.051	+1.5	+4.3	+.007	+0.8	+0.9	+.002
Kenny Smith	78	34.6	17.7	0.5	1.6	2.1	7.1	1.4	0.1	3.0	1.7	6.7	12.9	.520	0.6	1.7	.363	3.7	4.4	.844
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
difference:	+3	+3.6	+9.7	+0.3	+6.0	+5.6	+0.7	+0.5	+1.0	-3.3	-1.6	+3.2	+8.8	+.048	+0.1	+3.4	+.321	+3.1	+4.0	+.056
Kenny Smith	3	37.7	15.3	1.3	1.3	2.7	8.0	1.3	0.3	2.0	1.7	6.0	12.7	.474	0.7	1.3	.500	2.7	3.0	.889