Jalen Brunson vs. Marcus Smart Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Marcus Smart and Jalen Brunson, 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.

Jalen Brunson played 7 years in the NBA, 4 less than Marcus Smart, who played 11. Jalen Brunson had the first of his seasons in 2018-19, while Marcus Smart had his rookie season in 2014-15. 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
	Jalen Brunson	Marcus Smart
Season	2018-19	2014-15
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Jalen Brunson	73	21.8	9.3	0.3	2.0	2.3	3.2	0.5	0.1	1.2	1.7	3.6	7.7	.467	0.9	2.5	.348	1.2	1.6	.725
difference:	+6	+5.2	+1.5	+0.6	+0.4	+1.0	+0.1	+1.0	+0.2	-0.1	-0.9	+1.0	+0.6	+.100	+0.5	+1.6	+.013		+0.3	+.079
Marcus Smart	67	27.0	7.8	0.9	2.4	3.3	3.1	1.5	0.3	1.3	2.6	2.6	7.1	.367	1.4	4.1	.335	1.2	1.9	.646
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jalen Brunson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Marcus Smart	4	22.5	9.8	1.3	1.5	2.8	1.3	0.3	0.3	1.0	3.0	3.5	7.3	.483	0.8	3.3	.231	2.0	3.8	.533

Season 5
	Jalen Brunson	Marcus Smart
Season	2022-23	2018-19
Team	New York Knicks	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive First Team
Playoffs	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis	Celtics Lost East 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		%
Jalen Brunson	68	35.0	24.0	0.6	3.0	3.5	6.2	0.9	0.2	2.1	2.2	8.6	17.6	.491	2.0	4.7	.416	4.8	5.8	.829
difference:	+12	+7.5	+15.1	+0.1	+0.8	+0.6	+2.2	+0.9	+0.2	-0.6	-0.3	+5.6	+10.5	+.069	+0.4	+0.4	+.052	+3.5	+4.2	+.023
Marcus Smart	80	27.5	8.9	0.7	2.2	2.9	4.0	1.8	0.4	1.5	2.5	3.0	7.1	.422	1.6	4.3	.364	1.3	1.6	.806
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jalen Brunson	11	40.3	27.8	0.8	4.1	4.9	5.6	1.5	0.1	2.1	2.4	9.9	20.9	.474	2.4	7.3	.325	5.6	6.2	.912
difference:	+9	+24.3	+24.3	+1.2	+4.1	+2.9	+3.6		+0.1	-0.6	-0.9	+9.4	+15.4	+.383	+1.9	+1.8	+.234	+3.6	+3.2	+.245
Marcus Smart	2	16.0	3.5	2.0	0.0	2.0	2.0	1.5	0.0	1.5	1.5	0.5	5.5	.091	0.5	5.5	.091	2.0	3.0	.667

Season 6
	Jalen Brunson	Marcus Smart
Season	2023-24	2019-20
Team	New York Knicks	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals

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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		%
Jalen Brunson	77	35.4	28.7	0.6	3.1	3.6	6.7	0.9	0.2	2.4	1.9	10.3	21.4	.479	2.7	6.8	.401	5.5	6.5	.847
difference:	+17	+3.4	+15.8	+0.1		+0.2	+1.8	+0.8	+0.3	-0.7	-0.8	+6.0	+10.0	+.104	+0.4	+0.2	+.054	+3.4	+4.0	+.011
Marcus Smart	60	32.0	12.9	0.7	3.1	3.8	4.9	1.7	0.5	1.7	2.7	4.3	11.4	.375	2.3	6.6	.347	2.1	2.5	.836
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jalen Brunson	13	39.8	32.4	0.6	2.7	3.3	7.5	0.8	0.2	2.7	2.0	11.6	26.2	.444	2.0	6.5	.310	7.2	9.2	.775
difference:	+4	+1.7	+17.9		+1.9	+1.9	+2.9	+0.4	+0.3	-0.1	-1.2	+7.0	+14.6	+.050	+0.4	+0.7	+.023	+4.3	+5.9	+.100
Marcus Smart	17	38.1	14.5	0.6	4.6	5.2	4.6	1.2	0.5	2.6	3.2	4.6	11.6	.394	2.4	7.2	.333	2.9	3.3	.875

Season 7
	Jalen Brunson	Marcus Smart
Season	2024-25	2020-21
Team	New York Knicks	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	Clutch Player of the Year	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Knicks Lost East Conf Finals	Celtics Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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7th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jalen Brunson	65	35.4	26.0	0.4	2.5	2.9	7.3	0.9	0.1	2.5	2.1	9.0	18.5	.488	2.3	6.1	.383	5.7	6.9	.821
difference:	+17	+2.5	+12.9	+0.4	+0.2	+0.6	+1.6	+0.6	+0.4	-0.5	-0.5	+4.8	+7.9	+.090	+0.4	+0.2	+.053	+3.0	+3.5	+.031
Marcus Smart	48	32.9	13.1	0.8	2.7	3.5	5.7	1.5	0.5	2.0	2.6	4.2	10.6	.398	1.9	5.9	.330	2.7	3.4	.790
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jalen Brunson	18	37.8	29.4	0.7	2.8	3.4	7.0	0.4	0.3	3.1	3.3	10.1	21.8	.461	2.7	7.4	.358	6.7	7.8	.851
difference:	+13	+1.2	+11.6	+0.1	+0.8	+1.0	+1.0	+0.6	+0.1	-0.3	-0.5	+4.3	+8.6	+.022	+0.5	+1.2	+.014	+3.7	+3.6	+.137
Marcus Smart	5	36.6	17.8	0.8	3.6	4.4	6.0	1.0	0.2	2.8	2.8	5.8	13.2	.439	3.2	8.6	.372	3.0	4.2	.714

Additional Years
* Marcus Smart played 4 seasons more than Jalen Brunson in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 8 to 11, from 2022 to 2025—Marcus Smart played in two Playoffs. In those 4 extra years over Jalen Brunson, Marcus Smart got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-Defensive First Team 1 Defensive Player of the Year