Cade Cunningham vs. Willis Reed Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Willis Reed 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, 5 less than Willis Reed, who played 10. Cade Cunningham had the first of his seasons in 2021-22, while Willis Reed had his rookie season in 1964-65. 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	Willis Reed
Season	2021-22	1964-65
Team	Detroit Pistons	New York Knicks
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:	+16	+5.4	+2.1			+9.2	+3.9				-1.1	+1.2	+2.1	+.016				+1.6	+2.5	+.103
Willis Reed	80	38.0	19.5	-	-	14.7	1.7	-	-	-	4.2	7.9	18.2	.432	-	-	-	3.8	5.1	.742
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Cade Cunningham nor Willis Reed played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Cade Cunningham	Willis Reed
Season	2022-23	1965-66
Team	Detroit Pistons	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	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:	+64	+0.1	+4.4			+5.4	+4.8				-1.5	+2.0	+5.4	+.019				+1.0	+1.7	+.080
Willis Reed	76	33.4	15.5	-	-	11.6	1.2	-	-	-	4.3	5.8	13.3	.434	-	-	-	4.0	5.3	.757
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Cade Cunningham nor Willis Reed played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	Cade Cunningham	Willis Reed
Season	2023-24	1966-67
Team	Detroit Pistons	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Knicks Lost East Div Semis

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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:	+16	+2.7	+1.8			+10.3	+5.9				-1.3	+0.4	+2.2	+.040				+0.8	+1.8	+.134
Willis Reed	78	36.2	20.9	-	-	14.6	1.6	-	-	-	3.8	8.1	16.6	.489	-	-	-	4.6	6.2	.735
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Willis Reed	4	37.0	27.5	-	-	13.8	1.8	-	-	-	4.8	10.8	20.0	.538	-	-	-	6.0	6.3	.960

Season 4
	Cade Cunningham	Willis Reed
Season	2024-25	1967-68
Team	Detroit Pistons	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Pistons Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Knicks Lost East Div Semis

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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:	+11	+0.5	+5.3			+7.1	+7.1				-1.4	+1.7	+4.2	+.021					+1.0	+.125
Willis Reed	81	35.5	20.8	-	-	13.2	2.0	-	-	-	4.2	8.1	16.6	.490	-	-	-	4.5	6.3	.721
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	+3.7			+2.0	+6.9				-0.7	+0.4	+5.2	+.115				+2.1	+2.0	+.100
Willis Reed	6	35.0	21.3	-	-	10.3	1.8	-	-	-	4.0	8.8	16.3	.541	-	-	-	3.7	5.0	.733

Season 5
	Cade Cunningham	Willis Reed
Season	2025-26	1968-69
Team	Detroit Pistons	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Knicks Lost East Div Finals

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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:	+67	+1.6	+7.0			+8.4	+7.0				-0.1	+1.1	+5.4	+.076				+2.7	+2.8	+.081
Willis Reed	82	37.9	21.1	-	-	14.5	2.3	-	-	-	3.8	8.6	16.5	.521	-	-	-	4.0	5.3	.747
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Cade Cunningham	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Willis Reed	10	42.9	25.7	-	-	14.1	1.9	-	-	-	4.0	10.1	19.8	.510	-	-	-	5.5	7.0	.786

Additional Years
* Willis Reed played 5 seasons more than Cade Cunningham in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 10, from 1970 to 1974—Willis Reed played in 4 Playoffs and won two NBA Championships. In those 5 extra years over Cade Cunningham, Willis Reed got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 1 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive First Team 2 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP