Cade Cunningham vs. Tim Duncan Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Tim Duncan 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 Tim Duncan, who played 19. Cade Cunningham had the first of his seasons in 2021-22, while Tim Duncan had his rookie season in 1997-98. 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	Tim Duncan
Season	2021-22	1997-98
Team	Detroit Pistons	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs Lost West Conf 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	+6.5	+3.7	+2.4	+4.0	+6.4	+2.9	+0.5	+1.8	-0.3		+1.9	+0.4	+.133	+1.8	+5.6	+.314	+1.7	+3.3	+.183
Tim Duncan	82	39.1	21.1	3.3	8.6	11.9	2.7	0.7	2.5	3.4	3.1	8.6	15.7	.549	0.0	0.1	.000	3.9	5.9	.662
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tim Duncan	9	41.6	20.7	2.2	6.8	9.0	1.9	0.6	2.6	2.8	2.7	8.1	15.6	.521	0.0	0.1	.000	4.4	6.7	.667

Season 2
	Cade Cunningham	Tim Duncan
Season	2022-23	1998-99
Team	Detroit Pistons	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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:	+38	+6.0	+1.8	+2.2	+3.0	+5.2	+3.6	+0.1	+1.9	-0.4	-0.1	+0.6	+1.8	+.080	+1.4	+5.0	+.136	+1.9	+3.6	+.147
Tim Duncan	50	39.3	21.7	3.2	8.2	11.4	2.4	0.9	2.5	2.9	2.9	8.4	16.9	.495	0.0	0.1	.143	4.9	7.2	.690
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tim Duncan	17	43.1	23.2	3.2	8.2	11.5	2.8	0.8	2.6	3.1	2.9	8.5	16.6	.511	0.0	0.2	.000	6.3	8.4	.748

Season 3
	Cade Cunningham	Tim Duncan
Season	2023-24	1999-00
Team	Detroit Pistons	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
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:	+12	+5.4	+0.5	+3.0	+5.1	+8.1	+4.3		+1.8	-0.1	-0.3		+1.5	+.041	+1.9	+5.3	+.264	+2.4	+3.7	+.108
Tim Duncan	74	38.9	23.2	3.5	8.9	12.4	3.2	0.9	2.2	3.3	2.8	8.5	17.3	.490	0.0	0.1	.091	6.2	8.1	.761
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Cade Cunningham nor Tim Duncan played in the postseason in their season 3

Season 4
	Cade Cunningham	Tim Duncan
Season	2024-25	2000-01
Team	Detroit Pistons	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-NBA Third Team	-
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Pistons Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Spurs Lost West 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:	+12	+3.7	+3.9	+2.4	+3.7	+6.1	+6.1	+0.1	+1.5	-1.4	-0.2	+1.2	+3.7	+.030	+2.0	+5.7	+.097	+0.5	+2.8	+.228
Tim Duncan	82	38.7	22.2	3.2	9.0	12.2	3.0	0.9	2.3	3.0	3.0	8.6	17.1	.499	0.1	0.3	.259	5.0	8.1	.618
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:	+7	+0.8	+0.6	+3.2	+3.0	+6.2	+4.9	+0.7	+1.4	-1.5			+2.6	+.062	+0.7	+4.6	+.821		+2.2	+.194
Tim Duncan	13	40.5	24.4	4.2	10.3	14.5	3.8	1.1	2.7	3.8	3.3	9.2	18.9	.488	0.1	0.1	1.000	5.8	9.2	.639

Season 5
	Cade Cunningham	Tim Duncan
Season	2025-26	2001-02
Team	Detroit Pistons	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Cade Cunningham	5	35.2	22.2	1.2	4.4	5.6	8.2	0.8	1.2	4.4	3.6	7.6	19.2	.396	1.6	6.6	.242	5.4	6.6	.818
difference:	+77	+5.4	+3.3	+2.1	+5.0	+7.1	+4.5	+0.1	+1.3	-1.2	-1.0	+1.7	+0.9	+.112	+1.6	+6.5	+.142	+1.4	+1.9	+.019
Tim Duncan	82	40.6	25.5	3.3	9.4	12.7	3.7	0.7	2.5	3.2	2.6	9.3	18.3	.508	0.0	0.1	.100	6.8	8.5	.799
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tim Duncan	9	42.2	27.6	3.1	11.3	14.4	5.0	0.7	4.3	4.1	2.4	9.1	20.1	.453	0.1	0.3	.333	9.2	11.2	.822

Additional Years
* Tim Duncan played 14 seasons more than Cade Cunningham in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 19, from 2003 to 2016—Tim Duncan played in 14 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 14 extra years over Cade Cunningham, Tim Duncan got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 5 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-NBA Third Team 4 All-Defensive First Team 6 All-Defensive Second Team 11 All-Star Game