Cade Cunningham vs. Lenny Wilkens Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Lenny Wilkens 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 5 years in the NBA, 10 less than Lenny Wilkens, who played 15. Cade Cunningham had the first of his seasons in 2021-22, while Lenny Wilkens had his rookie season in 1960-61. 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	Lenny Wilkens
Season	2021-22	1960-61
Team	Detroit Pistons	St. Louis Hawks
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Hawks Lost NBA 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		%
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:	+11	+7.3	+5.7			+1.0	+2.8				-0.2	+2.3	+5.7	+.009				+0.7	+1.4	+.132
Lenny Wilkens	75	25.3	11.7	-	-	4.5	2.8	-	-	-	2.9	4.4	10.4	.425	-	-	-	2.9	4.0	.713
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lenny Wilkens	12	36.4	14.2	-	-	6.0	3.5	-	-	-	4.3	5.3	13.8	.380	-	-	-	3.7	4.8	.759

Season 3
	Cade Cunningham	Lenny Wilkens
Season	2023-24	1962-63
Team	Detroit Pistons	St. Louis Hawks
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Hawks Lost West Div Finals

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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:	+13	+0.8	+10.9			+1.1	+2.4				-0.9	+4.1	+7.7	+.050				+0.8	+0.1	+.173
Lenny Wilkens	75	34.3	11.8	-	-	5.4	5.1	-	-	-	3.4	4.4	11.1	.399	-	-	-	3.0	4.3	.696
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lenny Wilkens	11	36.4	13.7	-	-	6.3	6.3	-	-	-	4.6	5.2	14.0	.370	-	-	-	3.4	4.5	.755

Season 4
	Cade Cunningham	Lenny Wilkens
Season	2024-25	1963-64
Team	Detroit Pistons	St. Louis Hawks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Pistons Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Hawks Lost West Div Finals

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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	+2.6	+14.1			+1.8	+4.5				-0.9	+5.5	+10.4	+.056				+1.0	+0.6	+.106
Lenny Wilkens	78	32.4	12.0	-	-	4.3	4.6	-	-	-	3.7	4.3	10.4	.413	-	-	-	3.5	4.7	.740
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:	+6	+6.9	+10.7			+3.3	+3.4				-0.2	+3.9	+9.6	+.022				+2.1	+2.2	+.074
Lenny Wilkens	12	34.4	14.3	-	-	5.0	5.3	-	-	-	3.5	5.3	11.9	.448	-	-	-	3.7	4.8	.759

Season 5
	Cade Cunningham	Lenny Wilkens
Season	2025-26	1964-65
Team	Detroit Pistons	St. Louis Hawks
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Hawks Lost West Div 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		%
Cade Cunningham	15	36.3	28.1	1.3	4.8	6.1	9.3	1.3	0.7	3.6	3.7	9.7	21.9	.445	1.9	6.5	.299	6.7	8.1	.828
difference:	+63	+0.3	+11.6			+1.4	+3.8				-0.1	+4.1	+8.5	+.031				+1.4	+0.9	+.082
Lenny Wilkens	78	36.6	16.5	-	-	4.7	5.5	-	-	-	3.6	5.6	13.4	.414	-	-	-	5.3	7.2	.746
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lenny Wilkens	4	36.8	16.0	-	-	3.0	3.8	-	-	-	3.5	5.0	14.3	.351	-	-	-	6.0	7.3	.828

Additional Years
* Lenny Wilkens played 10 seasons more than Cade Cunningham in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 15, from 1966 to 1975—Lenny Wilkens played in 3 Playoffs. In those 10 extra years over Cade Cunningham, Lenny Wilkens got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Assists Leader 6 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP