Cade Cunningham vs. Shaquille O'Neal: Career Scoring Comparison

We break down the scoring legacies of Shaquille O'Neal and Cade Cunningham to determine who has the better numbers. Here you can compare their career totals, points per game, games of 40+ points, 50+, etc. and their year-by-year scoring averages side by side, both in the Regular Season and Playoffs.

Shaquille O'Neal and Cade Cunningham have two of the highest career scoring averages in league history (Shaquille O'Neal is also one of the all-time leaders in total points) and here we compare all their scoring stats.

By taking a look at their career numbers for points, the first conclusion one can arrive at is that Shaquille O'Neal scored more points both in the regular season and Playoffs and also has better season average while Cade Cunningham has a better scoring average in the postseason. However, we won't stop there and we'll go into detail to analyze what these statistics are made up of, from how many games they had in each threshold (30+ points, 40+, 50+, etc.) to their season-by-season scoring averages.

Career Numbers
Who has the better scoring stats?

Points in the Regular Season

In his 19 NBA regular seasons played, Shaquille O'Neal averages 1.2 points more than Cade Cunningham in his 5 seasons (23.7 points against 22.5), and he also scored a total of 23,586 points more (28,596 vs. 5,010).

Points Per Game			Seasons
Cade Cunningham	22.5		5
Shaquille O'Neal	23.7	+1.2	19

Total Points			Seasons
Cade Cunningham	5,010		5
Shaquille O'Neal	28,596	+23,586	19

Scoring Titles
Cade Cunningham	0
Shaquille O'Neal	2	+2

Points by Thresholds

Career Shooting Stats Comparison

Year by Year Points Average Comparison

= NBA Scoring Leader

= NBA Champion

Regular Season

Rookie Season	Points per game		Year	Games
Cade Cunningham	17.4		2022	64
Shaquille O'Neal	23.4	+6.0	1993	81

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
Cade Cunningham	19.9		2023	12
Shaquille O'Neal	29.3	+9.4	1994	81

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
Cade Cunningham	22.7		2024	62
Shaquille O'Neal	29.3	+6.6	1995	79

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
Cade Cunningham	26.1		2025	70
Shaquille O'Neal	26.6	+0.5	1996	54

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
Cade Cunningham	28.1	+1.9	2026	15
Shaquille O'Neal	26.2		1997	51

Shaquille O'Neal's additional seasons:

* Shaquille O'Neal played 14 seasons more than Cade Cunningham in the NBA. In those years—his seasons 6 to 19, from 1998 to 2011—he averaged 22.3 points in a total of 861 regular season games. During that period, his highest average was 29.7 ppg and his lowest 9.2. In those 14 extra years over Cade Cunningham, Shaquille O'Neal won 1 scoring title.