Richard Jefferson vs. J.R. Smith Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of J.R. Smith and Richard Jefferson, 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.

Richard Jefferson played 17 years in the NBA, 1 more than J.R. Smith, who played 16. Richard Jefferson had the first of his seasons in 2001-02, 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
	Richard Jefferson	J.R. Smith
Season	2001-02	2004-05
Team	New Jersey Nets	New Orleans Hornets
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie Second Team	-
Playoffs	Nets Lost NBA 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		%
Richard Jefferson	79	24.3	9.4	1.1	2.6	3.7	1.8	0.8	0.6	1.4	2.7	3.4	7.5	.457	0.2	0.7	.232	2.4	3.4	.713
difference:	+3	+0.2	+0.9	+0.6	+1.1	+1.7	+0.1	+0.1	+0.5		-0.9	+0.5	+2.3	+.063	+0.9	+3.0	+.056	+0.9	+1.3	+.024
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
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Richard Jefferson	20	22.1	7.0	0.8	3.8	4.6	1.3	0.6	0.5	1.3	2.0	2.7	5.7	.465	0.0	0.1	.000	1.7	3.0	.550
J.R. Smith	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 9
	Richard Jefferson	J.R. Smith
Season	2009-10	2012-13
Team	San Antonio Spurs	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	Sixth Man of the Year
Playoffs	Spurs Lost West Conf Semis	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis

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9th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Richard Jefferson	81	31.1	12.3	0.7	3.7	4.4	2.0	0.6	0.5	1.3	2.2	4.5	9.6	.467	0.7	2.3	.316	2.6	3.5	.735
difference:	+1	+2.4	+5.8	+0.1	+0.8	+0.9	+0.7	+0.7	+0.2	-0.4	-0.6	+2.1	+6.0	+.045	+1.2	+3.2	+.040	+0.4	+0.4	+.027
J.R. Smith	80	33.5	18.1	0.8	4.5	5.3	2.7	1.3	0.3	1.7	2.8	6.6	15.6	.422	1.9	5.5	.356	3.0	3.9	.762
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Richard Jefferson	10	33.4	9.4	0.8	4.5	5.3	1.8	0.6	0.6	1.5	2.0	3.4	7.0	.486	0.1	0.5	.200	2.5	3.3	.758
difference:	+1	+1.5	+4.9	+0.3	+0.3	+0.6	+0.4	+0.4	+0.1	-0.3	-0.5	+1.5	+7.8	+.155	+1.5	+5.5	+.073	+0.3	+0.6	+.037
J.R. Smith	11	31.9	14.3	0.5	4.2	4.7	1.4	1.0	0.5	1.8	2.5	4.9	14.8	.331	1.6	6.0	.273	2.8	3.9	.721

Season 12
	Richard Jefferson	J.R. Smith
Season	2012-13	2015-16
Team	Golden State Warriors	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	Warriors Lost West Conf Semis	NBA Champion

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12th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Richard Jefferson	56	10.1	3.1	0.1	1.4	1.5	0.6	0.3	0.1	0.4	0.8	1.1	2.4	.456	0.3	0.8	.311	0.7	0.9	.717
difference:	+21	+20.6	+9.3	+0.5	+0.9	+1.3	+1.1	+0.8	+0.2	-0.4	-1.8	+3.5	+8.6	+.041	+2.3	+5.8	+.089	+0.1		+.083
J.R. Smith	77	30.7	12.4	0.6	2.3	2.8	1.7	1.1	0.3	0.8	2.6	4.6	11.0	.415	2.6	6.6	.400	0.6	0.9	.634
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Richard Jefferson	7	5.6	1.9	0.3	0.7	1.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.7	0.6	1.3	.444	0.3	0.4	.667	0.4	1.3	.333
difference:	+14	+29.2	+9.6		+2.2	+2.2	+1.3	+1.1	+0.1	-0.5	-1.9	+3.3	+7.7	+.008	+2.8	+6.8	+.237	+0.2	+0.3	+.286
J.R. Smith	21	34.8	11.5	0.3	2.9	3.2	1.4	1.2	0.2	0.5	2.6	3.9	9.0	.436	3.1	7.2	.430	0.6	1.0	.619

Season 15
	Richard Jefferson	J.R. Smith
Season	2015-16	2018-19
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

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15th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Richard Jefferson	74	17.9	5.5	0.2	1.5	1.7	0.8	0.4	0.2	0.6	1.7	1.9	4.2	.458	0.9	2.3	.382	0.8	1.2	.667
difference:	+63	+2.3	+1.2	+0.2	+0.1	+0.1	+1.1	+0.6	+0.1	-0.4		+0.6	+3.0	+.116	+0.2	+1.2	+.074	+0.1	+0.3	+.133
J.R. Smith	11	20.2	6.7	0.0	1.6	1.6	1.9	1.0	0.3	1.0	1.7	2.5	7.2	.342	1.1	3.5	.308	0.7	0.9	.800
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Richard Jefferson	21	18.1	5.4	0.8	2.8	3.5	0.7	0.5	0.0	0.6	1.6	2.1	4.0	.524	0.5	1.3	.393	0.7	1.0	.750
J.R. Smith	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 16
	Richard Jefferson	J.R. Smith
Season	2016-17	2019-20
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	Cavaliers Lost NBA Finals	NBA Champion

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16th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Richard Jefferson	79	20.4	5.7	0.4	2.2	2.6	1.0	0.3	0.1	0.7	1.9	1.9	4.3	.446	0.8	2.4	.333	1.0	1.4	.741
difference:	+73	+7.2	+2.9	+0.4	+1.4	+1.8	+0.5	+0.1	+0.1		-1.1	+0.7	+0.6	+.128	+0.6	+0.6	+.242	+0.7	+1.1	+.259
J.R. Smith	6	13.2	2.8	0.0	0.8	0.8	0.5	0.2	0.0	0.7	0.8	1.2	3.7	.318	0.2	1.8	.091	0.3	0.3	1.000
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Richard Jefferson	14	12.8	3.9	0.7	1.1	1.8	0.5	0.1	0.2	0.6	2.1	1.1	2.7	.421	0.4	1.4	.263	1.3	2.0	.643
difference:	+4	+5.3	+1.9	+0.7	+0.8	+1.5	+0.2	+0.1	+0.2	-0.1	-1.0	+0.4	+0.1	+.152	+0.2	+0.8	+.010	+1.3	+2.0
J.R. Smith	10	7.5	2.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.0	0.7	1.1	0.7	2.6	.269	0.6	2.2	.273	0.0	0.0	-