Dirk Nowitzki vs. Franz Wagner Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Franz Wagner and Dirk Nowitzki, 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.

Dirk Nowitzki played 21 years in the NBA, 16 more than Franz Wagner, who played 5. Dirk Nowitzki had the first of his seasons in 1998-99, while Franz Wagner had his rookie season in 2021-22. 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
	Dirk Nowitzki	Franz Wagner
Season	1998-99	2021-22
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	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		%
Dirk Nowitzki	47	20.4	8.2	0.9	2.6	3.4	1.0	0.6	0.6	1.6	2.2	2.9	7.1	.405	0.3	1.4	.206	2.1	2.7	.773
difference:	+32	+10.3	+7.0	+0.2	+0.8	+1.1	+1.9	+0.3	+0.2	-0.1	-0.1	+2.9	+5.2	+.063	+0.9	+2.0	+.148	+0.3	+0.1	+.090
Franz Wagner	79	30.7	15.2	1.1	3.4	4.5	2.9	0.9	0.4	1.5	2.1	5.8	12.3	.468	1.2	3.4	.354	2.4	2.8	.863
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Dirk Nowitzki nor Franz Wagner played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 3
	Dirk Nowitzki	Franz Wagner
Season	2000-01	2023-24
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf Semis	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Dirk Nowitzki	82	38.1	21.8	1.5	7.7	9.2	2.1	1.0	1.2	1.9	3.0	7.2	15.2	.474	1.8	4.8	.387	5.5	6.6	.838
difference:	+10	+5.6	+2.1	+0.5	+3.4	+3.9	+1.6	+0.1	+0.8		-0.7	+0.1		+.008	+0.5	+0.2	+.106	+1.7	+2.2	+.012
Franz Wagner	72	32.5	19.7	1.0	4.3	5.3	3.7	1.1	0.4	1.9	2.3	7.3	15.2	.482	1.3	4.6	.281	3.8	4.4	.850
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dirk Nowitzki	10	39.9	23.4	1.4	6.7	8.1	1.4	1.1	0.8	1.4	3.7	6.9	16.3	.423	1.3	4.6	.283	8.3	9.4	.883
difference:	+3	+2.9	+4.5		+1.3	+1.2	+3.0	+0.4	+0.5	-0.1	-0.8	+0.9	+1.6	+.015		+0.3	+.018	+2.7	+3.1	+.003
Franz Wagner	7	37.0	18.9	1.4	5.4	6.9	4.4	0.7	1.3	1.3	2.9	6.0	14.7	.408	1.3	4.9	.265	5.6	6.3	.886

Season 4
	Dirk Nowitzki	Franz Wagner
Season	2001-02	2024-25
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf Semis	Magic Lost East 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		%
Dirk Nowitzki	76	38.0	23.4	1.6	8.4	9.9	2.4	1.1	1.0	1.9	2.9	7.9	16.6	.477	1.8	4.6	.397	5.8	6.8	.853
difference:	+16	+4.3	+0.8	+0.7	+3.6	+4.2	+2.3	+0.2	+0.6	-0.4	-0.4	+1.1	+2.8	+.014	+0.1	+1.3	+.102	+1.3	+1.6	+.018
Franz Wagner	60	33.7	24.2	0.9	4.8	5.7	4.7	1.3	0.4	2.3	2.5	9.0	19.4	.463	1.7	5.9	.295	4.5	5.2	.871
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dirk Nowitzki	8	44.6	28.4	2.1	11.0	13.1	2.3	2.0	0.8	2.8	3.4	9.1	20.5	.445	2.0	3.5	.571	8.1	9.3	.878
difference:	+3	+5.6	+2.6	+1.5	+6.8	+8.3	+3.3	+0.8	+0.4	-0.8	-0.2	+1.1	+2.5	+.002	+0.6	+3.9	+.382	+4.1	+4.1	+.109
Franz Wagner	5	39.0	25.8	0.6	4.2	4.8	5.6	1.2	0.4	2.0	3.2	10.2	23.0	.443	1.4	7.4	.189	4.0	5.2	.769

Season 5
	Dirk Nowitzki	Franz Wagner
Season	2002-03	2025-26
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf Finals	Did not play (season in progress)

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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		%
Dirk Nowitzki	80	39.0	25.1	1.0	8.9	9.9	3.0	1.4	1.0	1.9	2.6	8.6	18.6	.463	1.9	4.9	.379	6.0	6.9	.881
difference:	+56	+5.6	+2.4	+0.5	+4.3	+3.8	+0.7	+0.2	+0.6	-0.1	-0.4	+0.8	+2.7	+.027	+0.4	+0.7	+.019	+0.4	+0.1	+.058
Franz Wagner	24	33.4	22.7	1.5	4.6	6.1	3.7	1.2	0.4	1.8	2.2	7.8	15.9	.490	1.5	4.2	.360	5.6	6.8	.823
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dirk Nowitzki	17	42.5	25.3	0.9	10.6	11.5	2.2	1.2	0.9	2.4	3.1	8.8	18.4	.479	1.6	3.6	.443	6.1	6.6	.912
Franz Wagner	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Dirk Nowitzki played 16 seasons more than Franz Wagner in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 21, from 2004 to 2019—Dirk Nowitzki played in 12 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 16 extra years over Franz Wagner, Dirk Nowitzki got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 4 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-NBA Third Team 12 All-Star Game