RJ Barrett vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and RJ Barrett, 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.

RJ Barrett played 6 years in the NBA, 1 less than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who played 7. RJ Barrett had the first of his seasons in 2019-20, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his rookie season in 2018-19. 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
	RJ Barrett	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	2019-20	2018-19
Team	New York Knicks	Los Angeles Clippers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Clippers Lost West Conf 1st Rd

more >>

Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
RJ Barrett	56	30.4	14.3	0.9	4.1	5.0	2.6	1.0	0.3	2.2	2.2	5.2	13.0	.402	1.1	3.5	.320	2.8	4.5	.614
difference:	+26	+3.9	+3.5	+0.2	+2.0	+2.2	+0.7	+0.2	+0.2	-0.5	-0.1	+1.0	+4.3	+.074	+0.5	+1.8	+.047	+0.9	+2.1	+.186
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	82	26.5	10.8	0.7	2.1	2.8	3.3	1.2	0.5	1.7	2.1	4.2	8.7	.476	0.6	1.7	.367	1.9	2.4	.800
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
RJ Barrett	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	6	28.8	13.7	0.7	2.0	2.7	3.2	1.0	0.8	0.8	2.8	4.7	10.0	.467	1.5	3.0	.500	2.8	3.3	.850

Season 5
	RJ Barrett	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	2023-24	2022-23
Team	New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
RJ Barrett	58	31.7	20.2	0.9	4.5	5.4	3.3	0.5	0.4	2.2	2.2	7.5	15.2	.495	1.6	4.3	.360	3.6	5.0	.715
difference:	+10	+3.8	+11.2		+0.5	+0.6	+2.2	+1.1	+0.6	-0.6	-0.6	+2.9	+5.1	+.015	+0.7	+1.8	+.015	+6.2	+5.9	+.190
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	68	35.5	31.4	0.9	4.0	4.8	5.5	1.6	1.0	2.8	2.8	10.4	20.3	.510	0.9	2.5	.345	9.8	10.9	.905
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher RJ Barrett nor Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played in the postseason in their season 5

Season 6
	RJ Barrett	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	2024-25	2023-24
Team	Toronto Raptors	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Steals Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Thunder Lost West Conf Semis

more >>

6th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
RJ Barrett	58	32.2	21.1	1.1	5.3	6.3	5.4	0.8	0.3	2.8	2.4	7.9	16.9	.468	1.8	5.3	.350	3.4	5.4	.630
difference:	+17	+1.8	+9.0	+0.2	+0.6	+0.8	+0.8	+1.2	+0.6	-0.6	-0.1	+2.7	+2.9	+.067	+0.5	+1.7	+.003	+4.2	+3.3	+.244
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	75	34.0	30.1	0.9	4.7	5.5	6.2	2.0	0.9	2.2	2.5	10.6	19.8	.535	1.3	3.6	.353	7.6	8.7	.874
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
RJ Barrett	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	10	39.9	30.2	0.8	6.4	7.2	6.4	1.3	1.7	2.2	3.1	11.1	22.4	.496	1.6	3.7	.432	6.4	8.1	.790

Additional Years
* Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played 1 season more than RJ Barrett in the NBA. In that period—his season 7 in 2025—Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played in the Playoffs and won the NBA Championship. In that extra year over RJ Barrett, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 1 All-NBA First Team 1 Scoring Leader 1 Cup All-Tournament Team 1 All-Star Game