Jaxson Hayes vs. Kawhi Leonard Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Kawhi Leonard and Jaxson Hayes, 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.

Jaxson Hayes played 6 years in the NBA, 7 less than Kawhi Leonard, who played 13. Jaxson Hayes had the first of his seasons in 2019-20, while Kawhi Leonard had his rookie season in 2011-12. 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
	Jaxson Hayes	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2019-20	2011-12
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs Lost West Conf Finals

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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		%
Jaxson Hayes	64	16.9	7.4	1.5	2.5	4.0	0.9	0.4	0.9	0.8	2.5	2.7	4.0	.672	0.0	0.1	.250	1.9	3.0	.647
difference:		+7.1	+0.5	+0.1	+1.0	+1.1	+0.2	+0.9	+0.5	-0.1	-1.1	+0.4	+2.3	+.179	+0.6	+1.6	+.126	+0.8	+1.6	+.126
Kawhi Leonard	64	24.0	7.9	1.6	3.5	5.1	1.1	1.3	0.4	0.7	1.4	3.1	6.3	.493	0.6	1.7	.376	1.1	1.4	.773
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jaxson Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kawhi Leonard	14	27.1	8.6	1.3	4.6	5.9	0.6	1.2	0.4	0.9	1.6	3.2	6.4	.500	1.3	2.9	.450	0.9	1.1	.813

Season 3
	Jaxson Hayes	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2021-22	2013-14
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
Playoffs	Pelicans Lost West Conf 1st Rd	NBA Champion

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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		%
Jaxson Hayes	70	20.0	9.3	1.6	2.9	4.5	0.6	0.5	0.8	0.8	2.2	3.5	5.7	.616	0.3	0.8	.351	2.1	2.7	.766
difference:	+4	+9.1	+3.5	+0.4	+2.2	+1.7	+1.4	+1.2		-0.4	-0.3	+1.6	+4.1	+.094	+0.7	+2.0	+.028	+0.6	+0.8	+.036
Kawhi Leonard	66	29.1	12.8	1.2	5.1	6.2	2.0	1.7	0.8	1.2	1.9	5.1	9.8	.522	1.0	2.8	.379	1.5	1.9	.802
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jaxson Hayes	6	13.8	5.8	0.7	1.8	2.5	0.2	0.0	0.3	0.7	1.8	2.3	4.2	.560	0.0	0.5	.000	1.2	1.8	.636
difference:	+17	+18.2	+8.5	+0.6	+3.6	+4.2	+1.5	+1.7	+0.3	-0.6	-1.1	+3.0	+6.2	+.050	+1.3	+2.7	+.419	+1.1	+1.3	+.100
Kawhi Leonard	23	32.0	14.3	1.3	5.4	6.7	1.7	1.7	0.6	1.3	2.9	5.3	10.4	.510	1.3	3.2	.419	2.3	3.1	.736

Season 4
	Jaxson Hayes	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2022-23	2014-15
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	Defensive Player of the Year
	-	Steals Leader
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs Lost West 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		%
Jaxson Hayes	47	13.0	5.0	0.8	2.0	2.8	0.7	0.4	0.4	0.7	1.4	1.8	3.3	.551	0.1	0.6	.103	1.2	1.8	.699
difference:	+17	+18.8	+11.5	+0.5	+3.9	+4.4	+1.8	+1.9	+0.4	-0.8	-0.6	+4.4	+9.5	+.072	+0.9	+2.4	+.246	+2.0	+2.1	+.103
Kawhi Leonard	64	31.8	16.5	1.3	5.9	7.2	2.5	2.3	0.8	1.5	2.0	6.2	12.8	.479	1.0	3.0	.349	3.2	3.9	.802
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jaxson Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kawhi Leonard	7	35.7	20.3	1.9	5.6	7.4	2.6	1.1	0.6	2.1	2.6	7.4	15.6	.477	1.6	3.7	.423	3.9	5.0	.771

Season 5
	Jaxson Hayes	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2023-24	2015-16
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	Defensive Player of the Year
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Spurs Lost West Conf Semis
Others	NBA Cup Champion	-

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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		%
Jaxson Hayes	70	12.5	4.3	1.0	2.0	3.0	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.6	1.8	1.8	2.5	.720	0.0	0.1	.000	0.7	1.2	.622
difference:	+2	+20.6	+16.9	+0.3	+3.5	+3.8	+2.1	+1.3	+0.6	-0.9		+5.9	+12.6	+.214	+1.8	+3.9	+.443	+3.4	+3.4	+.252
Kawhi Leonard	72	33.1	21.2	1.3	5.5	6.8	2.6	1.8	1.0	1.5	1.8	7.7	15.1	.506	1.8	4.0	.443	4.1	4.6	.874
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jaxson Hayes	4	6.0	0.3	0.8	2.3	3.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.8	0.0	0.5	.000	0.0	0.0	-	0.3	0.5	.500
difference:	+6	+27.9	+22.2	+0.6	+2.6	+3.3	+2.5	+2.6	+1.4	-1.1	-0.3	+8.3	+16.1	+.500	+1.7	+3.9		+3.9	+4.6	+.324
Kawhi Leonard	10	33.9	22.5	1.4	4.9	6.3	2.8	2.6	1.4	1.6	2.1	8.3	16.6	.500	1.7	3.9	.436	4.2	5.1	.824

Season 6
	Jaxson Hayes	Kawhi Leonard
Season	2024-25	2016-17
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Spurs Lost West 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		%
Jaxson Hayes	56	19.5	6.8	1.4	3.4	4.8	1.0	0.6	0.9	0.8	2.4	2.9	4.0	.722	0.0	0.1	.000	1.1	1.8	.622
difference:	+18	+13.9	+18.7	+0.3	+1.3	+1.0	+2.5	+1.2	+0.2	-1.3	-0.8	+5.7	+13.7	+.237	+2.0	+5.1	+.380	+5.2	+5.4	+.258
Kawhi Leonard	74	33.4	25.5	1.1	4.7	5.8	3.5	1.8	0.7	2.1	1.6	8.6	17.7	.485	2.0	5.2	.380	6.3	7.2	.880
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jaxson Hayes	4	7.8	1.8	1.3	0.8	2.0	0.3	0.0	0.3	0.3	2.0	0.8	2.0	.375	0.0	0.0	-	0.3	0.5	.500
difference:	+8	+28.0	+25.9	+0.3	+5.4	+5.8	+4.3	+1.7	+0.2	-1.9	-0.2	+8.0	+14.8	+.150	+2.1	+4.6		+7.6	+8.0	+.431
Kawhi Leonard	12	35.8	27.7	1.6	6.2	7.8	4.6	1.7	0.5	2.2	1.8	8.8	16.8	.525	2.1	4.6	.455	7.9	8.5	.931

Additional Years
* Kawhi Leonard played 7 seasons more than Jaxson Hayes in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 13, from 2018 to 2025—Kawhi Leonard played in 6 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 7 extra years over Jaxson Hayes, Kawhi Leonard got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 1 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 4 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP