James Harden vs. Jaden McDaniels Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Jaden McDaniels and James Harden, 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.

James Harden played 16 years in the NBA, 11 more than Jaden McDaniels, who played 5. James Harden had the first of his seasons in 2009-10, while Jaden McDaniels had his rookie season in 2020-21. 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
	James Harden	Jaden McDaniels
Season	2009-10	2020-21
Team	Oklahoma City Thunder	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie Second Team	-
Playoffs	Thunder Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
James Harden	76	22.9	9.9	0.6	2.6	3.2	1.8	1.1	0.3	1.4	2.6	3.1	7.6	.403	1.2	3.3	.375	2.6	3.2	.808
difference:	+13	+1.1	+3.1	+0.2	+0.3	+0.5	+0.7	+0.5	+0.7	-0.7	-0.1	+0.5	+1.8	+.044	+0.1	+0.2	+.011	+2.2	+2.5	+.208
Jaden McDaniels	63	24.0	6.8	0.8	2.9	3.7	1.1	0.6	1.0	0.7	2.7	2.6	5.8	.447	1.1	3.1	.364	0.4	0.7	.600
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
James Harden	6	20.0	7.7	0.2	2.3	2.5	1.8	1.0	0.2	0.5	2.3	2.0	5.2	.387	1.0	2.7	.375	2.7	3.2	.842
Jaden McDaniels	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	James Harden	Jaden McDaniels
Season	2011-12	2022-23
Team	Oklahoma City Thunder	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	Sixth Man of the Year	-
Playoffs	Thunder Lost NBA Finals	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		%
James Harden	62	31.4	16.8	0.5	3.6	4.1	3.7	1.0	0.2	2.2	2.4	5.0	10.1	.491	1.8	4.7	.390	5.0	6.0	.846
difference:	+17	+0.8	+4.7	+0.7	+0.9	+0.2	+1.8	+0.1	+0.8	-0.8	-1.0	+0.3	+1.0	+.026	+0.4	+1.3	+.008	+3.7	+4.2	+.110
Jaden McDaniels	79	30.6	12.1	1.2	2.7	3.9	1.9	0.9	1.0	1.4	3.4	4.7	9.1	.517	1.4	3.4	.398	1.3	1.8	.736
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
James Harden	20	31.5	16.3	0.7	4.5	5.1	3.4	1.6	0.1	2.1	3.4	4.7	10.7	.435	1.6	3.9	.410	5.4	6.3	.857
Jaden McDaniels	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	James Harden	Jaden McDaniels
Season	2012-13	2023-24
Team	Houston Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Timberwolves 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		%
James Harden	78	38.3	25.9	0.8	4.1	4.9	5.8	1.8	0.5	3.8	2.3	7.5	17.1	.438	2.3	6.2	.368	8.6	10.2	.851
difference:	+6	+9.1	+15.4		+1.8	+1.8	+4.4	+0.9	+0.1	-2.6	-0.7	+3.2	+8.4	+.051	+1.1	+2.7	+.031	+7.8	+9.1	+.129
Jaden McDaniels	72	29.2	10.5	0.8	2.3	3.1	1.4	0.9	0.6	1.2	3.0	4.3	8.7	.489	1.2	3.5	.337	0.8	1.1	.722
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
James Harden	6	40.5	26.3	0.8	5.8	6.7	4.5	2.0	1.0	4.5	3.0	7.5	19.2	.391	2.5	7.3	.341	8.8	11.0	.803
difference:	+10	+6.9	+14.1	+1.0	+3.7	+2.9	+3.4	+1.1	+0.1	-3.4	-0.4	+3.0	+10.4	+.123	+1.0	+3.8	+.088	+7.1	+8.8	+.032
Jaden McDaniels	16	33.6	12.2	1.8	2.1	3.8	1.1	0.9	1.1	1.1	3.4	4.5	8.8	.514	1.5	3.5	.429	1.7	2.2	.771

Season 5
	James Harden	Jaden McDaniels
Season	2013-14	2024-25
Team	Houston Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 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		%
James Harden	73	38.0	25.4	0.8	3.9	4.7	6.1	1.6	0.4	3.6	2.4	7.5	16.5	.456	2.4	6.6	.366	7.9	9.1	.866
difference:	+9	+6.1	+13.2	+0.8	+0.3	+1.0	+4.1	+0.3	+0.5	-2.4	-0.3	+2.6	+6.3	+.021	+1.2	+2.9	+.036	+6.6	+7.5	+.053
Jaden McDaniels	82	31.9	12.2	1.6	4.2	5.7	2.0	1.3	0.9	1.2	2.7	4.9	10.2	.477	1.2	3.7	.330	1.3	1.6	.813
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
James Harden	6	43.8	26.8	0.8	3.8	4.7	5.8	2.0	0.2	3.5	3.5	8.3	22.2	.376	2.7	9.0	.296	7.5	8.3	.900
difference:	+9	+10.7	+12.1	+1.0		+0.9	+4.3	+0.7	+0.7	-2.3	-0.2	+2.5	+10.9	+.139	+1.3	+5.3	+.086	+5.8	+6.4	+.007
Jaden McDaniels	15	33.1	14.7	1.8	3.8	5.6	1.5	1.3	0.9	1.2	3.3	5.8	11.3	.515	1.4	3.7	.382	1.7	1.9	.893

Additional Years
* James Harden played 11 seasons more than Jaden McDaniels in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 16, from 2015 to 2025—James Harden played in 11 Playoffs. In those 11 extra years over Jaden McDaniels, James Harden got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Season MVP 5 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 3 Scoring Leader 2 Assists Leader 9 All-Star Game