Luka Doncic vs. Dirk Nowitzki Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Doncic, 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.

Luka Doncic played 7 years in the NBA, 14 less than Dirk Nowitzki, who played 21. Luka Doncic had the first of his seasons in 2018-19, while Dirk Nowitzki had his rookie season in 1998-99. 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
	Luka Doncic	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2018-19	1998-99
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	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		%
Luka Doncic	72	32.2	21.2	1.2	6.6	7.8	6.0	1.1	0.3	3.4	1.9	7.0	16.5	.427	2.3	7.1	.327	4.8	6.7	.713
difference:	+25	+11.8	+13.0	+0.3	+4.0	+4.4	+5.0	+0.5	+0.3	-1.8	-0.3	+4.1	+9.4	+.022	+2.0	+5.7	+.121	+2.7	+4.0	+.060
Dirk Nowitzki	47	20.4	8.2	0.9	2.6	3.4	1.0	0.6	0.6	1.6	2.2	2.9	7.1	.405	0.3	1.4	.206	2.1	2.7	.773
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Luka Doncic nor Dirk Nowitzki played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Luka Doncic	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2019-20	1999-00
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Luka Doncic	61	33.6	28.8	1.3	8.1	9.4	8.8	1.0	0.2	4.3	2.5	9.5	20.6	.463	2.8	8.9	.316	7.0	9.2	.758
difference:	+21	+2.2	+11.3	+0.1	+2.9	+2.9	+6.3	+0.2	+0.6	-2.6	-0.6	+3.2	+7.0	+.002	+1.4	+5.2	+.063	+3.5	+5.0	+.072
Dirk Nowitzki	82	35.8	17.5	1.2	5.2	6.5	2.5	0.8	0.8	1.7	3.1	6.3	13.6	.461	1.4	3.7	.379	3.5	4.2	.830
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Luka Doncic	6	35.8	31.0	0.7	9.2	9.8	8.7	1.2	0.5	5.2	2.8	10.7	21.3	.500	2.7	7.3	.364	7.0	10.7	.656
Dirk Nowitzki	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Luka Doncic	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2020-21	2000-01
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Mavericks Lost West Conf Semis

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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		%
Luka Doncic	66	34.3	27.7	0.8	7.2	8.0	8.6	1.0	0.5	4.3	2.3	9.8	20.5	.479	2.9	8.3	.350	5.2	7.1	.730
difference:	+16	+3.8	+5.9	+0.7	+0.5	+1.2	+6.5		+0.7	-2.4	-0.7	+2.6	+5.3	+.005	+1.1	+3.5	+.037	+0.3	+0.5	+.108
Dirk Nowitzki	82	38.1	21.8	1.5	7.7	9.2	2.1	1.0	1.2	1.9	3.0	7.2	15.2	.474	1.8	4.8	.387	5.5	6.6	.838
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Luka Doncic	7	40.1	35.7	0.6	7.3	7.9	10.3	1.3	0.4	4.6	2.4	13.7	28.0	.490	4.4	10.9	.408	3.9	7.3	.529
difference:	+3	+0.2	+12.3	+0.8	+0.6	+0.2	+8.9	+0.2	+0.4	-3.2	-1.3	+6.8	+11.7	+.067	+3.1	+6.3	+.125	+4.4	+2.1	+.354
Dirk Nowitzki	10	39.9	23.4	1.4	6.7	8.1	1.4	1.1	0.8	1.4	3.7	6.9	16.3	.423	1.3	4.6	.283	8.3	9.4	.883

Season 4
	Luka Doncic	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2021-22	2001-02
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost West Conf Finals	Mavericks Lost West Conf Semis

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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		%
Luka Doncic	65	35.4	28.4	0.9	8.3	9.1	8.7	1.2	0.6	4.5	2.2	9.9	21.6	.457	3.1	8.8	.353	5.6	7.5	.744
difference:	+11	+2.6	+5.0	+0.7	+0.1	+0.8	+6.3	+0.1	+0.4	-2.6	-0.7	+2.0	+5.0	+.020	+1.3	+4.2	+.044	+0.2	+0.7	+.109
Dirk Nowitzki	76	38.0	23.4	1.6	8.4	9.9	2.4	1.1	1.0	1.9	2.9	7.9	16.6	.477	1.8	4.6	.397	5.8	6.8	.853
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Luka Doncic	15	36.8	31.7	0.7	9.1	9.8	6.4	1.8	0.6	3.9	2.9	10.7	23.5	.455	3.4	9.9	.345	6.9	9.0	.770
difference:	+7	+7.8	+3.3	+1.4	+1.9	+3.3	+4.1	+0.2	+0.2	-1.1	-0.5	+1.6	+3.0	+.010	+1.4	+6.4	+.226	+1.2	+0.3	+.108
Dirk Nowitzki	8	44.6	28.4	2.1	11.0	13.1	2.3	2.0	0.8	2.8	3.4	9.1	20.5	.445	2.0	3.5	.571	8.1	9.3	.878

Season 5
	Luka Doncic	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2022-23	2002-03
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Mavericks 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		%
Luka Doncic	66	36.2	32.4	0.8	7.8	8.6	8.0	1.4	0.5	3.6	2.5	10.9	22.0	.496	2.8	8.2	.342	7.8	10.5	.742
difference:	+14	+2.8	+7.3	+0.2	+1.1	+1.3	+5.0		+0.5	-1.7	-0.1	+2.3	+3.4	+.033	+0.9	+3.3	+.037	+1.8	+3.6	+.139
Dirk Nowitzki	80	39.0	25.1	1.0	8.9	9.9	3.0	1.4	1.0	1.9	2.6	8.6	18.6	.463	1.9	4.9	.379	6.0	6.9	.881
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Luka Doncic	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dirk Nowitzki	17	42.5	25.3	0.9	10.6	11.5	2.2	1.2	0.9	2.4	3.1	8.8	18.4	.479	1.6	3.6	.443	6.1	6.6	.912

Season 6
	Luka Doncic	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2023-24	2003-04
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Third Team
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost NBA Finals	Mavericks Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Luka Doncic	70	37.5	33.9	0.8	8.4	9.2	9.8	1.4	0.5	4.0	2.1	11.5	23.6	.487	4.1	10.6	.382	6.8	8.7	.786
difference:	+7	+0.4	+12.1	+0.4	+0.9	+0.5	+7.1	+0.2	+0.9	-2.2	-0.7	+3.6	+6.6	+.025	+2.8	+6.8	+.041	+2.0	+3.2	+.091
Dirk Nowitzki	77	37.9	21.8	1.2	7.5	8.7	2.7	1.2	1.4	1.8	2.8	7.9	17.0	.462	1.3	3.8	.341	4.8	5.5	.877
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Luka Doncic	22	40.9	28.9	0.7	8.7	9.5	8.1	1.9	0.4	4.1	2.5	10.2	22.9	.446	3.1	9.6	.322	5.3	7.0	.765
difference:	+17	+1.3	+2.3	+1.9	+0.5	+2.3	+6.7	+0.5	+2.2	-2.9	-0.7	+1.2	+2.9	+.004	+1.7	+6.6	+.145	+1.9	+1.4	+.092
Dirk Nowitzki	5	42.2	26.6	2.6	9.2	11.8	1.4	1.4	2.6	1.2	3.2	9.0	20.0	.450	1.4	3.0	.467	7.2	8.4	.857

Season 7
	Luka Doncic	Dirk Nowitzki
Season	2024-25	2004-05
Team	Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Mavericks Lost West Conf Semis

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7th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Luka Doncic	50	35.4	28.2	0.8	7.4	8.2	7.7	1.8	0.4	3.6	2.5	9.2	20.5	.450	3.5	9.6	.368	6.2	7.9	.782
difference:	+28	+3.3	+2.1	+0.4	+1.1	+1.5	+4.6	+0.6	+1.1	-1.3	-0.3	+0.7	+2.0	+.009	+2.3	+6.7	+.031	+1.7	+1.2	+.087
Dirk Nowitzki	78	38.7	26.1	1.2	8.5	9.7	3.1	1.2	1.5	2.3	2.8	8.5	18.5	.459	1.2	2.9	.399	7.9	9.1	.869
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Luka Doncic	5	41.6	30.2	0.4	6.6	7.0	5.8	1.0	0.6	4.0	3.2	9.4	20.8	.452	3.2	9.2	.348	8.2	9.2	.891
difference:	+8	+0.9	+6.5	+1.5	+1.6	+3.1	+2.5	+0.4	+1.0	-1.5		+1.5	+1.1	+.050	+2.4	+6.9	+.015	+1.1	+0.7	+.062
Dirk Nowitzki	13	42.5	23.7	1.9	8.2	10.1	3.3	1.4	1.6	2.5	3.2	7.9	19.7	.402	0.8	2.3	.333	7.1	8.5	.829

Additional Years
* Dirk Nowitzki played 14 seasons more than Luka Doncic in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 8 to 21, from 2006 to 2019—Dirk Nowitzki played in 10 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 14 extra years over Luka Doncic, Dirk Nowitzki got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 3 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 10 All-Star Game