Kawhi Leonard vs. Jaden McDaniels Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Jaden McDaniels and Kawhi Leonard, 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.

Kawhi Leonard played 13 years in the NBA, 8 more than Jaden McDaniels, who played 5. Kawhi Leonard had the first of his seasons in 2011-12, while Jaden McDaniels had his rookie season in 2020-21. 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
	Kawhi Leonard	Jaden McDaniels
Season	2011-12	2020-21
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
Playoffs	Spurs Lost West Conf Finals	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		%
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
difference:	+1		+1.1	+0.8	+0.6	+1.4		+0.7	+0.6		-1.3	+0.5	+0.5	+.046	+0.5	+1.4	+.012	+0.7	+0.7	+.173
Jaden McDaniels	63	24.0	6.8	0.8	2.9	3.7	1.1	0.6	1.0	0.7	2.7	2.6	5.8	.447	1.1	3.1	.364	0.4	0.7	.600
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
Jaden McDaniels	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Kawhi Leonard	Jaden McDaniels
Season	2013-14	2022-23
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	Finals MVP	-
	All-Defensive Second Team	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

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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		%
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
difference:	+13	+1.5	+0.7		+2.4	+2.3	+0.1	+0.8	+0.2	-0.2	-1.5	+0.4	+0.7	+.005	+0.4	+0.6	+.019	+0.2	+0.1	+.066
Jaden McDaniels	79	30.6	12.1	1.2	2.7	3.9	1.9	0.9	1.0	1.4	3.4	4.7	9.1	.517	1.4	3.4	.398	1.3	1.8	.736
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
Jaden McDaniels	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Kawhi Leonard	Jaden McDaniels
Season	2014-15	2023-24
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-Defensive First Team	-
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	Defensive Player of the Year	-
	Steals Leader	-
Playoffs	Spurs Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Timberwolves Lost West Conf Finals

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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		%
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
difference:	+8	+2.6	+6.0	+0.5	+3.6	+4.1	+1.1	+1.4	+0.2	-0.3	-1.0	+1.9	+4.1	+.010	+0.2	+0.5	+.012	+2.4	+2.8	+.080
Jaden McDaniels	72	29.2	10.5	0.8	2.3	3.1	1.4	0.9	0.6	1.2	3.0	4.3	8.7	.489	1.2	3.5	.337	0.8	1.1	.722
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
difference:	+9	+2.1	+8.1	+0.1	+3.5	+3.6	+1.5	+0.2	+0.5	-1.0	-0.8	+2.9	+6.8	+.037	+0.1	+0.2	+.006	+2.2	+2.8
Jaden McDaniels	16	33.6	12.2	1.8	2.1	3.8	1.1	0.9	1.1	1.1	3.4	4.5	8.8	.514	1.5	3.5	.429	1.7	2.2	.771

Season 5
	Kawhi Leonard	Jaden McDaniels
Season	2015-16	2024-25
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	Defensive Player of the Year	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Spurs Lost West Conf Semis	Timberwolves 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		%
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
difference:	+10	+1.2	+9.0	+0.3	+1.3	+1.1	+0.6	+0.5	+0.1	-0.3	-0.9	+2.8	+4.9	+.029	+0.6	+0.3	+.113	+2.8	+3.0	+.061
Jaden McDaniels	82	31.9	12.2	1.6	4.2	5.7	2.0	1.3	0.9	1.2	2.7	4.9	10.2	.477	1.2	3.7	.330	1.3	1.6	.813
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
difference:	+5	+0.8	+7.8	+0.4	+1.1	+0.7	+1.3	+1.3	+0.5	-0.4	-1.2	+2.5	+5.3	+.015	+0.3	+0.2	+.054	+2.5	+3.2	+.069
Jaden McDaniels	15	33.1	14.7	1.8	3.8	5.6	1.5	1.3	0.9	1.2	3.3	5.8	11.3	.515	1.4	3.7	.382	1.7	1.9	.893

Additional Years
* Kawhi Leonard played 8 seasons more than Jaden McDaniels in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 13, from 2017 to 2025—Kawhi Leonard played in 7 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 8 extra years over Jaden McDaniels, Kawhi Leonard got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 2 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive First Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 5 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP