Lonzo Ball vs. J.R. Smith Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of J.R. Smith and Lonzo 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.

Lonzo Ball played 6 years in the NBA, 10 less than J.R. Smith, who played 16. Lonzo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2017-18, while J.R. Smith had his rookie season in 2004-05. 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
	Lonzo Ball	J.R. Smith
Season	2017-18	2004-05
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	New Orleans Hornets
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		%
Lonzo Ball	52	34.2	10.2	1.3	5.6	6.9	7.2	1.7	0.8	2.6	2.3	3.9	10.8	.360	1.7	5.7	.305	0.6	1.4	.451
difference:	+24	+9.7	+0.1	+0.8	+4.1	+4.9	+5.3	+1.0	+0.7	-1.2	-0.5		+1.0	+.034	+0.6	+2.0	+.017	+0.9	+0.7	+.238
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
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor J.R. Smith played in the postseason in their season 1

Note: Lonzo Ball didn't play in 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Additional Years
* J.R. Smith played 10 seasons more than Lonzo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 16, from 2011 to 2020—J.R. Smith played in 8 Playoffs and won two NBA Championships. In those 10 extra years over Lonzo Ball, J.R. Smith got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Sixth Man of the Year