J.R. Smith vs. Fred VanVleet Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Fred VanVleet and J.R. Smith, 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.

J.R. Smith played 16 years in the NBA, 7 more than Fred VanVleet, who played 9. J.R. Smith had the first of his seasons in 2004-05, while Fred VanVleet had his rookie season in 2016-17. 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
	J.R. Smith	Fred VanVleet
Season	2006-07	2018-19
Team	Denver Nuggets	Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	Nuggets 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		%
J.R. Smith	63	23.3	13.0	0.5	1.8	2.3	1.4	0.8	0.1	1.3	2.3	4.5	10.2	.441	2.4	6.1	.390	1.6	2.0	.810
difference:	+1	+4.2	+2.0	+0.2	+0.5	+0.3	+3.4	+0.1	+0.2		-0.6	+0.7	+0.8	+.031	+0.6	+1.5	+.012	+0.1	+0.2	+.033
Fred VanVleet	64	27.5	11.0	0.3	2.3	2.6	4.8	0.9	0.3	1.3	1.7	3.8	9.4	.410	1.8	4.6	.378	1.5	1.8	.843
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
J.R. Smith	4	11.8	4.5	0.3	2.0	2.3	0.5	1.0	0.3	0.8	1.5	1.5	5.5	.273	0.0	3.0	.000	1.5	1.5	1.000
difference:	+20	+12.9	+3.5		+0.6	+0.6	+2.1	+0.2		-0.1	-0.5	+1.2	+1.4	+.119	+1.6	+1.1	+.388	+0.5	+0.2	+.226
Fred VanVleet	24	24.7	8.0	0.3	1.4	1.7	2.6	0.8	0.3	0.9	2.0	2.7	6.9	.392	1.6	4.1	.388	1.0	1.3	.774

Season 6
	J.R. Smith	Fred VanVleet
Season	2009-10	2021-22
Team	Denver Nuggets	Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Nuggets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Raptors Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
J.R. Smith	75	27.8	15.4	0.4	2.7	3.1	2.4	1.3	0.3	1.9	2.3	5.7	13.8	.414	2.1	6.2	.338	1.9	2.7	.706
difference:	+10	+10.1	+4.9	+0.3	+1.1	+1.3	+4.3	+0.4	+0.2	-0.7	-0.2	+1.1	+3.1	+.011	+1.6	+3.7	+.039	+1.1	+0.7	+.168
Fred VanVleet	65	37.9	20.3	0.7	3.8	4.4	6.7	1.7	0.5	2.6	2.5	6.8	16.9	.403	3.7	9.9	.377	3.0	3.4	.874
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
J.R. Smith	6	26.5	11.2	0.8	3.0	3.8	1.7	0.7	0.3	1.0	2.8	3.5	9.5	.368	1.8	5.2	.355	2.3	2.7	.875
difference:	+2	+8.5	+2.6	+0.3	+0.5	+0.8	+4.6	+1.1	+0.7		-0.2	+1.3	+4.0	+.016	+1.2	+3.8	+.022	+1.0	+1.2	+.042
Fred VanVleet	4	35.0	13.8	0.5	2.5	3.0	6.3	1.8	1.0	1.0	3.0	4.8	13.5	.352	3.0	9.0	.333	1.3	1.5	.833

Season 9
	J.R. Smith	Fred VanVleet
Season	2012-13	2024-25
Team	New York Knicks	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	Sixth Man of the Year	-
Playoffs	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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9th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
J.R. Smith	80	33.5	18.1	0.8	4.5	5.3	2.7	1.3	0.3	1.7	2.8	6.6	15.6	.422	1.9	5.5	.356	3.0	3.9	.762
difference:	+20	+1.7	+4.0	+0.3	+1.3	+1.6	+2.9	+0.3	+0.1	-0.2	-0.5	+1.8	+2.9	+.044	+0.8	+2.2	+.011	+1.1	+1.6	+.048
Fred VanVleet	60	35.2	14.1	0.5	3.2	3.7	5.6	1.6	0.4	1.5	2.3	4.8	12.7	.378	2.7	7.7	.345	1.9	2.3	.810
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
J.R. Smith	11	31.9	14.3	0.5	4.2	4.7	1.4	1.0	0.5	1.8	2.5	4.9	14.8	.331	1.6	6.0	.273	2.8	3.9	.721
difference:	+4	+8.1	+4.4	+0.1	+0.5	+0.6	+3.0		+0.2	-0.1	-0.2	+0.8	+1.5	+.099	+2.3	+2.9	+.162	+0.6	+0.5	+.279
Fred VanVleet	7	40.0	18.7	0.4	3.7	4.1	4.4	1.0	0.3	1.9	2.3	5.7	13.3	.430	3.9	8.9	.435	3.4	3.4	1.000