Cade Cunningham vs. Shaquille O'Neal Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Shaquille O'Neal 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, 14 less than Shaquille O'Neal, who played 19. Cade Cunningham had the first of his seasons in 2021-22, while Shaquille O'Neal had his rookie season in 1992-93. 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	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2021-22	1992-93
Team	Detroit Pistons	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	-	All-Star Game
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:	+17	+5.3	+6.0	+3.3	+5.0	+8.4	+3.7	+0.5	+2.8	-0.1	-0.9	+2.3		+.146	+1.8	+5.7		+3.1	+6.3	+.253
Shaquille O'Neal	81	37.9	23.4	4.2	9.6	13.9	1.9	0.7	3.5	3.8	4.0	9.0	16.1	.562	0.0	0.0	-	5.3	8.9	.592
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Cade Cunningham nor Shaquille O'Neal played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Cade Cunningham	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2022-23	1993-94
Team	Detroit Pistons	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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:	+69	+6.5	+9.4	+3.7	+3.3	+7.0	+3.6	+0.1	+2.3	-0.6	-0.7	+4.0	+0.9	+.184	+1.4	+5.1		+2.8	+6.9	+.283
Shaquille O'Neal	81	39.8	29.3	4.7	8.5	13.2	2.4	0.9	2.9	2.7	3.5	11.8	19.6	.599	0.0	0.0	-	5.8	10.5	.554
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shaquille O'Neal	3	42.0	20.7	5.7	7.7	13.3	2.3	0.7	3.0	3.3	4.3	7.7	15.0	.511	0.0	0.0	-	5.3	11.3	.471

Season 3
	Cade Cunningham	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2023-24	1994-95
Team	Detroit Pistons	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Magic Lost NBA 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:	+17	+3.5	+6.6	+3.7	+3.5	+7.1	+4.8		+2.0	-0.8	-0.8	+3.3	+1.4	+.134	+1.9	+5.3	+.355	+2.0	+6.4	+.336
Shaquille O'Neal	79	37.0	29.3	4.2	7.3	11.4	2.7	0.9	2.4	2.6	3.3	11.8	20.2	.583	0.0	0.1	.000	5.8	10.8	.533
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shaquille O'Neal	21	38.3	25.7	4.5	7.4	11.9	3.3	0.9	1.9	3.5	4.0	9.3	16.1	.577	0.0	0.0	-	7.1	12.4	.571

Season 4
	Cade Cunningham	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2024-25	1995-96
Team	Detroit Pistons	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Pistons Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Magic Lost East Conf 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:	+16	+1.0	+0.5	+2.6	+2.4	+4.9	+6.2	+0.4	+1.3	-1.5	-0.8	+1.2	+1.7	+.104	+2.1	+6.0		+0.1	+4.2	+.359
Shaquille O'Neal	54	36.0	26.6	3.4	7.7	11.0	2.9	0.6	2.1	2.9	3.6	11.0	19.1	.573	0.0	0.0	-	4.6	9.5	.487
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	+3.0	+0.8	+3.1	+1.4	+1.7	+4.1	+1.0		-1.6		+1.7	+3.5	+.180	+0.8	+4.7		+1.8	+3.2	+.440
Shaquille O'Neal	12	38.3	25.8	4.1	5.9	10.0	4.6	0.8	1.3	3.7	3.3	10.9	18.0	.606	0.0	0.0	-	4.0	10.2	.393

Season 5
	Cade Cunningham	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2025-26	1996-97
Team	Detroit Pistons	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers 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		%
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:	+36	+1.8	+1.9	+2.5	+3.9	+6.4	+6.2	+0.4	+2.2	-0.7	-0.2	+1.1	+2.5	+.112	+1.9	+6.4	+.299	+2.2	+1.3	+.344
Shaquille O'Neal	51	38.1	26.2	3.8	8.7	12.5	3.1	0.9	2.9	2.9	3.5	10.8	19.4	.557	0.0	0.1	.000	4.5	9.4	.484
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shaquille O'Neal	9	36.2	26.9	4.2	6.3	10.6	3.2	0.6	1.9	2.4	4.1	9.9	19.2	.514	0.0	0.0	-	7.1	11.7	.610

Additional Years
* Shaquille O'Neal played 14 seasons more than Cade Cunningham in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 19, from 1998 to 2011—Shaquille O'Neal played in 13 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 14 extra years over Cade Cunningham, Shaquille O'Neal got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 8 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Scoring Leader 10 All-Star Game 3 All-Star Game MVP