J.R. Smith vs. Isaiah Thomas Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Isaiah Thomas 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, 4 more than Isaiah Thomas, who played 12. J.R. Smith had the first of his seasons in 2004-05, while Isaiah Thomas 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
	J.R. Smith	Isaiah Thomas
Season	2004-05	2011-12
Team	New Orleans Hornets	Sacramento Kings
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		%
J.R. Smith	76	24.5	10.3	0.5	1.5	2.0	1.9	0.7	0.1	1.4	1.8	3.9	9.8	.394	1.1	3.7	.288	1.5	2.1	.689
difference:	+11	+1.0	+1.2	+0.2	+0.3	+0.6	+2.2	+0.1		-0.2	-0.1		+1.0	+.054	+0.2	+0.3	+.091	+0.9	+0.7	+.143
Isaiah Thomas	65	25.5	11.5	0.7	1.8	2.6	4.1	0.8	0.1	1.6	1.9	3.9	8.8	.448	1.3	3.4	.379	2.4	2.8	.832
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher J.R. Smith nor Isaiah Thomas played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 5
	J.R. Smith	Isaiah Thomas
Season	2008-09	2015-16
Team	Denver Nuggets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Nuggets Lost West Conf Finals	Celtics Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
J.R. Smith	81	27.7	15.2	0.5	3.1	3.7	2.8	1.0	0.2	1.9	2.3	5.2	11.7	.446	2.2	5.6	.397	2.5	3.4	.754
difference:	+1	+4.5	+7.0	+0.1	+0.7	+0.7	+3.4	+0.1	+0.1	-0.8	-0.3	+2.0	+5.2	+.018	+0.2	+0.1	+.038	+3.3	+3.2	+.117
Isaiah Thomas	82	32.2	22.2	0.6	2.4	3.0	6.2	1.1	0.1	2.7	2.0	7.2	16.9	.428	2.0	5.7	.359	5.8	6.6	.871
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
J.R. Smith	16	27.2	14.9	0.7	2.6	3.3	2.8	1.1	0.3	1.6	3.2	5.5	12.1	.454	2.4	6.6	.358	1.6	2.9	.543
difference:	+10	+9.5	+9.3	+0.4	+0.1	+0.3	+2.2	+0.4	+0.5	-0.7	-0.2	+2.3	+7.7	+.059	+0.2	+1.1	+.075	+4.7	+4.9	+.266
Isaiah Thomas	6	36.7	24.2	0.3	2.7	3.0	5.0	0.7	0.8	2.3	3.0	7.8	19.8	.395	2.2	7.7	.283	6.3	7.8	.809

Season 6
	J.R. Smith	Isaiah Thomas
Season	2009-10	2016-17
Team	Denver Nuggets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Nuggets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
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:	+1	+6.0	+13.5	+0.2	+0.6	+0.4	+3.5	+0.4	+0.1	-0.9	-0.1	+3.3	+5.6	+.049	+1.1	+2.3	+.041	+5.9	+5.8	+.203
Isaiah Thomas	76	33.8	28.9	0.6	2.1	2.7	5.9	0.9	0.2	2.8	2.2	9.0	19.4	.463	3.2	8.5	.379	7.8	8.5	.909
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:	+9	+8.2	+12.1	+0.5	+0.2	+0.7	+5.0	+0.2	+0.2	-2.3	-0.5	+3.9	+7.9	+.057	+0.6	+2.0	+.022	+3.8	+4.7	+.055
Isaiah Thomas	15	34.7	23.3	0.3	2.8	3.1	6.7	0.9	0.1	3.3	2.3	7.4	17.4	.425	2.4	7.2	.333	6.1	7.4	.820

Season 9
	J.R. Smith	Isaiah Thomas
Season	2012-13	2019-20
Team	New York Knicks	Washington Wizards
Honors & Awards	Sixth Man of the Year	-
Playoffs	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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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:	+40	+10.4	+5.9	+0.5	+3.1	+3.6	+1.0	+1.0	+0.1	-0.2	-0.9	+2.2	+4.9	+.014	+0.1	+0.8	+.057	+1.4	+2.0	+.054
Isaiah Thomas	40	23.1	12.2	0.3	1.4	1.7	3.7	0.3	0.2	1.9	1.9	4.4	10.7	.408	2.0	4.7	.413	1.6	1.9	.816
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
Isaiah Thomas	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Isaiah Thomas didn't play in 2022-23.

Season 12
	J.R. Smith	Isaiah Thomas
Season	2015-16	2023-24
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	Phoenix Suns
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Suns Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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12th 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	77	30.7	12.4	0.6	2.3	2.8	1.7	1.1	0.3	0.8	2.6	4.6	11.0	.415	2.6	6.6	.400	0.6	0.9	.634
difference:	+71	+27.5	+11.1	+0.6	+2.3	+2.8	+1.2	+1.1	+0.3	-0.8	-2.6	+4.1	+9.3	+.115	+2.3	+5.9	+.100	+0.6	+0.9
Isaiah Thomas	6	3.2	1.3	0.0	0.0	0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.7	.300	0.3	0.7	.500	0.0	0.0	-
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
J.R. Smith	21	34.8	11.5	0.3	2.9	3.2	1.4	1.2	0.2	0.5	2.6	3.9	9.0	.436	3.1	7.2	.430	0.6	1.0	.619
difference:	+20	+30.8	+11.5	+0.3	+2.9	+3.2	+1.4	+1.2	+0.2	-0.5	-2.6	+3.9	+7.0	+.436	+3.1	+6.2	+.430	+0.6	+1.0
Isaiah Thomas	1	4.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	.000	0.0	1.0	.000	0.0	0.0	-