Josh Giddey vs. Dirk Nowitzki Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Giddey, 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.

Josh Giddey played 5 years in the NBA, 16 less than Dirk Nowitzki, who played 21. Josh Giddey had the first of his seasons in 2021-22, while Dirk Nowitzki had his rookie season in 1998-99. 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
	Josh Giddey	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2021-22	1998-99
Team	Oklahoma City Thunder	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie Second 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		%
Josh Giddey	54	31.5	12.5	1.8	6.0	7.8	6.4	0.9	0.4	3.2	1.6	5.2	12.4	.419	1.0	3.9	.263	1.0	1.5	.709
difference:	+7	+11.1	+4.3	+0.9	+3.4	+4.4	+5.4	+0.3	+0.2	-1.6	-0.6	+2.3	+5.3	+.014	+0.7	+2.5	+.057	+1.1	+1.2	+.064
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
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Josh Giddey nor Dirk Nowitzki played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 3
	Josh Giddey	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2023-24	2000-01
Team	Oklahoma City Thunder	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
Playoffs	Thunder Lost West Conf Semis	Mavericks Lost West Conf Semis

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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		%
Josh Giddey	80	25.1	12.3	1.4	5.0	6.4	4.8	0.7	0.6	2.1	1.4	5.0	10.6	.475	1.0	3.0	.337	1.3	1.6	.806
difference:	+2	+13.0	+9.5	+0.1	+2.7	+2.8	+2.7	+0.3	+0.6	-0.2	-1.6	+2.2	+4.6	+.001	+0.8	+1.8	+.050	+4.2	+5.0	+.032
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
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Josh Giddey	10	18.1	8.7	0.7	2.9	3.6	2.1	0.2	0.4	1.2	0.9	3.4	7.5	.453	1.2	3.4	.353	0.7	0.8	.875
difference:		+21.8	+14.7	+0.7	+3.8	+4.5	+0.7	+0.9	+0.4	-0.2	-2.8	+3.5	+8.8	+.030	+0.1	+1.2	+.070	+7.6	+8.6	+.008
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

Season 4
	Josh Giddey	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2024-25	2001-02
Team	Chicago Bulls	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Mavericks Lost West Conf Semis

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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		%
Josh Giddey	70	30.2	14.6	1.8	6.3	8.1	7.2	1.2	0.6	2.9	1.7	5.3	11.4	.465	1.5	4.0	.378	2.5	3.2	.781
difference:	+6	+7.8	+8.8	+0.2	+2.1	+1.8	+4.8	+0.1	+0.4	-1.0	-1.2	+2.6	+5.2	+.012	+0.3	+0.6	+.019	+3.3	+3.6	+.072
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
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Josh Giddey	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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

Season 5
	Josh Giddey	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2025-26	2002-03
Team	Chicago Bulls	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Mavericks 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		%
Josh Giddey	3	31.3	19.3	1.0	7.7	8.7	6.3	0.7	0.7	3.7	2.3	6.3	14.7	.432	1.7	4.0	.417	5.0	7.0	.714
difference:	+77	+7.7	+5.8		+1.2	+1.2	+3.3	+0.7	+0.3	-1.8	-0.3	+2.3	+3.9	+.031	+0.2	+0.9	+.038	+1.0	+0.1	+.167
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
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Josh Giddey	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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

Additional Years
* Dirk Nowitzki played 16 seasons more than Josh Giddey 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 Josh Giddey, 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