Dirk Nowitzki vs. Michael Porter Jr. Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Michael Porter Jr. 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, 15 more than Michael Porter Jr., who played 6. Dirk Nowitzki had the first of his seasons in 1998-99, while Michael Porter Jr. had his rookie season in 2019-20. 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.

Season 3
	Dirk Nowitzki	Michael Porter Jr.
Season	2000-01	2021-22
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf Semis	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		%
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:	+73	+8.7	+11.9	+0.5	+2.1	+2.6	+0.2	+0.1	+1.0	-0.6	-1.2	+3.1	+3.8	+.115	+0.7	+0.5	+.179	+4.9	+5.6	+.282
Michael Porter Jr.	9	29.4	9.9	1.0	5.6	6.6	1.9	1.1	0.2	1.3	1.8	4.1	11.4	.359	1.1	5.3	.208	0.6	1.0	.556
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
Michael Porter Jr.	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Dirk Nowitzki	Michael Porter Jr.
Season	2001-02	2022-23
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf Semis	NBA Champion

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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:	+14	+9.0	+6.0	+0.6	+3.9	+4.4	+1.4	+0.5	+0.5	-0.8	-1.0	+1.5	+3.4	+.010	+1.2	+2.7	+.017	+4.3	+4.9	+.053
Michael Porter Jr.	62	29.0	17.4	1.0	4.5	5.5	1.0	0.6	0.5	1.1	1.9	6.4	13.2	.487	3.0	7.3	.414	1.5	1.9	.800
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:	+12	+11.9	+15.0	+1.1	+3.9	+5.0	+0.7	+1.5	+0.2	-2.3	-1.3	+4.1	+8.8	+.022	+0.3	+3.1	+.220	+6.9	+7.8	+.085
Michael Porter Jr.	20	32.7	13.4	1.0	7.1	8.1	1.6	0.5	0.6	0.5	2.1	5.0	11.7	.423	2.3	6.6	.351	1.2	1.5	.793

Season 5
	Dirk Nowitzki	Michael Porter Jr.
Season	2002-03	2023-24
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf Finals	Nuggets 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		%
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:	+1	+7.3	+8.4	+0.3	+3.2	+2.9	+1.5	+0.9	+0.3	-0.8	-0.8	+2.2	+5.3	+.021	+0.8	+1.9	+.018	+4.9	+5.5	+.045
Michael Porter Jr.	81	31.7	16.7	1.3	5.7	7.0	1.5	0.5	0.7	1.1	1.8	6.4	13.3	.484	2.7	6.8	.397	1.1	1.4	.836
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
difference:	+5	+5.6	+9.5	+0.2	+4.4	+4.7	+1.1	+0.3	+0.1	-0.9	-0.8	+3.1	+6.2	+.013	+1.2	+3.2	+.036	+4.4	+4.4	+.143
Michael Porter Jr.	12	36.9	15.8	0.7	6.2	6.8	1.1	0.9	0.8	1.5	2.3	5.7	12.2	.466	2.8	6.8	.407	1.7	2.2	.769

Season 6
	Dirk Nowitzki	Michael Porter Jr.
Season	2003-04	2024-25
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Nuggets Lost West Conf Semis

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6th 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	77	37.9	21.8	1.2	7.5	8.7	2.7	1.2	1.4	1.8	2.8	7.9	17.0	.462	1.3	3.8	.341	4.8	5.5	.877
difference:		+4.2	+3.6	+0.6	+2.3	+1.7	+0.6	+0.6	+0.9	-0.4	-0.8	+1.0	+3.4	+.042	+1.2	+2.6	+.054	+2.9	+3.0	+.109
Michael Porter Jr.	77	33.7	18.2	1.8	5.2	7.0	2.1	0.6	0.5	1.4	2.0	6.9	13.6	.504	2.5	6.4	.395	1.9	2.5	.768
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dirk Nowitzki	5	42.2	26.6	2.6	9.2	11.8	1.4	1.4	2.6	1.2	3.2	9.0	20.0	.450	1.4	3.0	.467	7.2	8.4	.857
difference:	+9	+11.1	+17.5	+1.6	+4.7	+6.3	+0.8	+0.8	+2.2	-0.3	-1.3	+5.6	+11.4	+.058	+0.3	+2.0	+.124	+6.5	+7.4	+.143
Michael Porter Jr.	14	31.1	9.1	1.0	4.5	5.5	0.6	0.6	0.4	0.9	1.9	3.4	8.6	.392	1.7	5.0	.343	0.7	1.0	.714

Additional Years
* Dirk Nowitzki played 15 seasons more than Michael Porter Jr. in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 21, from 2005 to 2019—Dirk Nowitzki played in 11 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 15 extra years over Michael Porter Jr., Dirk Nowitzki got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 4 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 11 All-Star Game