Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs. RJ Barrett Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of RJ Barrett and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Player comparisons:
Career comparison / Season by season

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.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played 20 years in the NBA, 14 more than RJ Barrett, who played 6. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had the first of his seasons in 1969-70, while RJ Barrett had his rookie season in 2019-20. 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.

Their Careers

Player		 Total Seasons Playoffs Played NBA Years
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 20 18 1969-70 to 1988-89
RJ Barrett 6 2 2019-20 to 2024-25

Comparison Season by Season

Jump to season:

1-2-3-4-5-6

Rookie Season
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar RJ Barrett
Season 1969-702019-20
Team Milwaukee BucksNew York Knicks
Honors & Awards Achievement All-NBA Second Team-
Achievement All-Defensive Second Team-
Achievement Rookie of the Year-
Achievement All-Rookie First Team-
Achievement All-Star Game-
Playoffs Bucks Lost East Div FinalsDid Not Play
more >>
Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 82 43.1 28.8 - - 14.5 4.1 - - - 3.5 11.4 22.1 .518 - - - 5.9 9.1 .653
difference:+26+12.7+14.5+9.5+1.5-1.3+6.2+9.1+.116+3.1+4.6+.039
RJ Barrett 56 30.4 14.3 0.9 4.1 5.0 2.6 1.0 0.3 2.2 2.2 5.2 13.0 .402 1.1 3.5 .320 2.8 4.5 .614
Playoffs Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 10 43.5 35.2 - - 16.8 4.1 - - - 2.5 13.9 24.5 .567 - - - 7.4 10.1 .733
RJ Barrett DNP------ --- ----------

Season 2
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar RJ Barrett
Season 1970-712020-21
Team Milwaukee BucksNew York Knicks
Honors & Awards Achievement Finals MVP-
Achievement Season MVP-
Achievement All-NBA First Team-
Achievement All-Defensive Second Team-
Achievement Scoring Leader-
Achievement All-Star Game-
Playoffs NBA Champion NBA ChampionKnicks Lost East Conf 1st Rd
more >>
2nd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 82 40.1 31.7 - - 16.0 3.3 - - - 3.2 13.0 22.5 .577 - - - 5.7 8.3 .690
difference:+10+5.2+14.1+10.2+0.3-0.6+6.5+7.8+.136+2.8+4.5+.056
RJ Barrett 72 34.9 17.6 0.9 4.8 5.8 3.0 0.7 0.3 1.9 2.6 6.5 14.7 .441 1.7 4.3 .401 2.9 3.8 .746
Playoffs Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 14 41.2 26.6 - - 17.0 2.5 - - - 3.2 10.9 21.1 .515 - - - 4.9 7.2 .673
difference:+9+8.8+12.2+9.8+0.5-1.0+5.7+7.7+.127+2.5+4.2+.127
RJ Barrett 5 32.4 14.4 0.8 6.4 7.2 3.0 0.8 0.4 0.4 2.2 5.2 13.4 .388 1.6 5.6 .286 2.4 3.0 .800

Season 3
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar RJ Barrett
Season 1971-722021-22
Team Milwaukee BucksNew York Knicks
Honors & Awards Achievement Season MVP-
Achievement All-NBA First Team-
Achievement Scoring Leader-
Achievement All-Star Game-
Playoffs Bucks Lost West Conf FinalsDid Not Play
more >>
3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 81 44.2 34.8 - - 16.6 4.6 - - - 2.9 14.3 24.9 .574 - - - 6.2 9.0 .689
difference:+11+9.7+14.8+10.8+1.6-0.9+7.3+7.8+.166+2.1+3.2+.025
RJ Barrett 70 34.5 20.0 0.9 4.9 5.8 3.0 0.6 0.2 2.2 2.0 7.0 17.1 .408 2.0 5.8 .342 4.1 5.8 .714
Playoffs Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 11 46.4 28.7 - - 18.2 5.1 - - - 3.2 12.6 28.9 .437 - - - 3.5 4.9 .704
RJ Barrett DNP------ --- ----------

Season 4
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar RJ Barrett
Season 1972-732022-23
Team Milwaukee BucksNew York Knicks
Honors & Awards Achievement All-NBA First Team-
Achievement All-Star Game-
Playoffs Bucks Lost West Conf SemisKnicks Lost East Conf Semis
more >>
4th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 76 42.8 30.2 - - 16.1 5.0 - - - 2.7 12.9 23.3 .554 - - - 4.3 6.1 .713
difference:+3+8.9+10.6+11.1+2.2-0.2+5.9+7.2+.120+0.3+0.7+.027
RJ Barrett 73 33.9 19.6 0.8 4.2 5.0 2.8 0.4 0.2 2.2 2.5 7.0 16.1 .434 1.7 5.3 .310 4.0 5.4 .740
Playoffs Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 6 46.0 22.8 - - 16.2 2.8 - - - 4.3 9.8 23.0 .428 - - - 3.2 5.8 .543
difference:+5+11.7+3.5+11.7-2.0+3.3+8.1+.005+1.3+0.1+.226
RJ Barrett 11 34.3 19.3 0.5 4.0 4.5 2.8 0.8 0.2 2.3 2.3 6.5 14.9 .433 1.8 5.5 .328 4.5 5.9 .769

Season 5
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar RJ Barrett
Season 1973-742023-24
Team Milwaukee BucksNew York Knicks, Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards Achievement Season MVP-
Achievement All-NBA First Team-
Achievement All-Defensive First Team-
Achievement All-Star Game-
Playoffs Bucks Lost NBA FinalsDid Not Play
more >>
5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 81 43.8 27.0 3.5 11.0 14.5 4.8 1.4 3.5 - 2.9 11.7 21.7 .539 - - - 3.6 5.2 .702
difference:+23+12.1+6.8+2.6+6.5+9.1+1.5+0.9+3.1-0.7+4.2+6.5+.044+0.2+.013
RJ Barrett 58 31.7 20.2 0.9 4.5 5.4 3.3 0.5 0.4 2.2 2.2 7.5 15.2 .495 1.6 4.3 .360 3.6 5.0 .715
Playoffs Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 16 47.4 32.2 4.2 11.6 15.8 4.9 1.3 2.4 - 2.6 14.0 25.1 .557 - - - 4.2 5.7 .736
RJ Barrett DNP------ --- ----------

Season 6
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar RJ Barrett
Season 1974-752024-25
Team Milwaukee BucksToronto Raptors
Honors & Awards Achievement All-Defensive First Team-
Achievement Blocks Leader-
Achievement All-Star Game-
Playoffs Did Not PlayDid Not Play
more >>
6th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
G Min Pts ORb DRb Reb Ast Stl Blk TOPF FGM / A% 3PM / A% FTM / A%
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 65 42.3 30.0 3.0 11.0 14.0 4.1 1.0 3.3 - 3.2 12.5 24.4 .513 - - - 5.0 6.6 .763
difference:+7+10.1+8.9+1.9+5.7+7.7+1.3+0.2+3.0-0.8+4.6+7.5+.045+1.6+1.2+.133
RJ Barrett 58 32.2 21.1 1.1 5.3 6.3 5.4 0.8 0.3 2.8 2.4 7.9 16.9 .468 1.8 5.3 .350 3.4 5.4 .630
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Kareem Abdul-Jabbar nor RJ Barrett played in the postseason in their season 6

Additional Years

* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played 14 seasons more than RJ Barrett in the NBA.

In that period—his seasons 7 to 20, from 1976 to 1989—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in 13 Playoffs and won 5 NBA Championships.

In those 14 extra years over RJ Barrett, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar got these achievements:

Honors & AwardsAchievement 1 Finals MVP
Achievement 3 Season MVP
Achievement 6 All-NBA First Team
Achievement 4 All-NBA Second Team
Achievement 3 All-Defensive First Team
Achievement 4 All-Defensive Second Team
Achievement 1 Rebounds Leader
Achievement 3 Blocks Leader
Achievement 13 All-Star Game
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