LaMelo Ball vs. Cade Cunningham Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Cade Cunningham and LaMelo Ball, 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.

LaMelo Ball played 5 years in the NBA, 1 more than Cade Cunningham, who played 4. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Cade Cunningham had his rookie season in 2021-22. 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
	LaMelo Ball	Cade Cunningham
Season	2020-21	2021-22
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First 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		%
LaMelo Ball	51	28.8	15.7	1.2	4.7	5.9	6.1	1.6	0.4	2.8	2.7	5.7	13.2	.436	1.8	5.1	.352	2.5	3.2	.758
difference:	+13	+3.8	+1.7	+0.3	+0.1	+0.4	+0.5	+0.4	+0.3	-0.9	-0.4	+1.0	+2.9	+.020		+0.6	+.038	+0.3	+0.6	+.087
Cade Cunningham	64	32.6	17.4	0.9	4.6	5.5	5.6	1.2	0.7	3.7	3.1	6.7	16.1	.416	1.8	5.7	.314	2.2	2.6	.845
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Cade Cunningham played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Cade Cunningham
Season	2021-22	2022-23
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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2nd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	75	32.3	20.1	1.4	5.2	6.7	7.6	1.6	0.4	3.3	3.2	7.2	16.7	.429	2.9	7.5	.389	2.8	3.2	.872
difference:	+63	+1.0	+0.2	+0.4		+0.5	+1.6	+0.8	+0.2		-0.4	+0.6	+2.0	+.014	+1.5	+2.4	+.110	+0.2	+0.4	+.035
Cade Cunningham	12	33.3	19.9	1.0	5.2	6.2	6.0	0.8	0.6	3.3	2.8	7.8	18.7	.415	1.4	5.1	.279	3.0	3.6	.837
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Cade Cunningham played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 4
	LaMelo Ball	Cade Cunningham
Season	2023-24	2024-25
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Pistons Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
LaMelo Ball	22	32.3	23.9	1.3	3.8	5.1	8.0	1.8	0.2	3.8	3.6	8.3	19.2	.433	3.2	9.0	.355	4.1	4.7	.865
difference:	+48	+2.7	+2.2	+0.5	+1.5	+1.0	+1.1	+0.8	+0.6	-0.6	-0.8	+1.5	+1.6	+.036	+1.1	+3.0	+.001	+0.4	+0.6	+.019
Cade Cunningham	70	35.0	26.1	0.8	5.3	6.1	9.1	1.0	0.8	4.4	2.8	9.8	20.8	.469	2.1	6.0	.356	4.5	5.3	.846
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cade Cunningham	6	41.3	25.0	1.0	7.3	8.3	8.7	1.8	1.3	5.3	3.3	9.2	21.5	.426	0.8	4.7	.179	5.8	7.0	.833