Vince Carter vs. Dirk Nowitzki: Career Scoring Comparison
We break down the scoring legacies of Dirk Nowitzki and Vince Carter 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.
Career comparison / Season by season / Scoring / Stats / Stats Rankings / Games against each other
Dirk Nowitzki and Vince Carter are among the all-time leaders in points in NBA history—combining for a total of 57,288 points—. Here we compare their scoring stats.
By taking a look at their career numbers for points, the first conclusion one can arrive at is that Dirk Nowitzki has better scoring stats than Vince Carter in averages and totals, both in the regular season and Playoffs. 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.
On this page we compare: |
|
Who has better scoring stats? Career Numbers |
Career Numbers
Who has the better scoring stats?
Points in the Regular Season
In his 21 NBA regular seasons played, Dirk Nowitzki averages 4 points more than Vince Carter in his 22 seasons (20.7 points against 16.7), and he also scored a total of 5,832 points more (31,560 vs. 25,728).
Points Per Game | Seasons | ||
| Vince Carter | 16.7 | 22 | |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 20.7 | +4.0 | 21 |
Total Points | Seasons | ||
| Vince Carter | 25,728 | 22 | |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 31,560 | +5,832 | 21 |
Points in the Playoffs
Similar to what happens in the regular season, in the NBA postseason Dirk Nowitzki has a better career point average than Vince Carter (+7.2 points per game) and he also scored more points (+2,070).
Points Per Game | Playoffs | ||
| Vince Carter | 18.1 | 11 | |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 25.3 | +7.2 | 15 |
Total Points | Playoffs | ||
| Vince Carter | 1,593 | 11 | |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 3,663 | +2,070 | 15 |
Points by Thresholds
Regular Season
20+ Point Games | ||||
| Vince Carter | 597 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 861 | +264 | ||
10+ Point Games | ||||
| Vince Carter | 1,094 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 1,373 | +279 | ||
1+ Point Games (games with points) | ||||
| Vince Carter | 1,473 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 1,509 | +36 | ||
0 Point Games (games without points) | ||||
| Vince Carter | 68 | +55 | ||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 13 | |||
Playoffs
20+ Point Games | ||||
| Vince Carter | 40 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 109 | +69 | ||
10+ Point Games | ||||
| Vince Carter | 68 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 142 | +74 | ||
1+ Point Games (games with points) | ||||
| Vince Carter | 88 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 145 | +57 | ||
0 Point Games (games without points) | ||||
| Vince Carter | 0 | |||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 0 | |||
Career Shooting Stats Comparison
Regular Season
Stats Per Game
| Pts | FGM / A | % | 3PM / A | % | FTM / A | % | Yrs | Gms | ||||
| Vince Carter | 16.7 | 6.0 | 13.8 | 43.5 | 1.5 | 4.0 | 37.1 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 79.8 | 22 | 1,541 |
| difference: | +4.0 | +1.3 | +1.8 | +3.5 | +0.2 | +0.6 | +0.9 | +1.7 | +1.5 | +8.1 | +1 | +19 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 20.7 | 7.3 | 15.6 | 47.1 | 1.3 | 3.4 | 38.0 | 4.8 | 5.4 | 87.9 | 21 | 1,522 |
Total Stats
| Pts | FGM / A | % | 3PM / A | % | FTM / A | % | Yrs | Gms | ||||
| Vince Carter | 25,728 | 9,293 | 21,339 | 43.5 | 2,290 | 6,168 | 37.1 | 4,852 | 6,082 | 79.8 | 22 | 1,541 |
| difference: | +5,832 | +1,876 | +2,395 | +3.5 | +308 | +958 | +0.9 | +2,388 | +2,157 | +8.1 | +1 | +19 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 31,560 | 11,169 | 23,734 | 47.1 | 1,982 | 5,210 | 38.0 | 7,240 | 8,239 | 87.9 | 21 | 1,522 |
Playoffs
Stats Per Game
| Pts | FGM / A | % | 3PM / A | % | FTM / A | % | Yrs | Gms | ||||
| Vince Carter | 18.1 | 6.3 | 15.2 | 41.6 | 1.4 | 4.0 | 33.8 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 79.6 | 11 | 88 |
| difference: | +7.2 | +2.1 | +3.0 | +4.6 | +0.4 | +1.2 | +2.7 | +3.3 | +3.2 | +9.6 | +4 | +57 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 25.3 | 8.4 | 18.2 | 46.2 | 1.0 | 2.8 | 36.5 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 89.2 | 15 | 145 |
Total Stats
| Pts | FGM / A | % | 3PM / A | % | FTM / A | % | Yrs | Gms | ||||
| Vince Carter | 1,593 | 557 | 1,340 | 41.6 | 119 | 352 | 33.8 | 360 | 452 | 79.6 | 11 | 88 |
| difference: | +2,070 | +663 | +1,302 | +4.6 | +30 | +56 | +2.7 | +714 | +752 | +9.6 | +4 | +57 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 3,663 | 1,220 | 2,642 | 46.2 | 149 | 408 | 36.5 | 1,074 | 1,204 | 89.2 | 15 | 145 |
Year by Year Points Average Comparison
= NBA ChampionRegular Season
Vince Carter's additional seasons: | ||||
- Vince Carter played 1 season more than Dirk Nowitzki in the NBA. In that year—his season 22 in 2020—he averaged 5.0 points in a total of 60 regular season games. |
Playoffs
Rookie Season | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 1999 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 1999 | 0 |
Season 2 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | 19.3 | +19.3 | 2000 | 3 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 2000 | 0 |
Season 4 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 2002 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 28.4 | +28.4 | 2002 | 8 |
Season 5 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 2003 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 25.3 | +25.3 | 2003 | 17 |
Season 6 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 2004 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 26.6 | +26.6 | 2004 | 5 |
Season 10 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 2008 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 26.8 | +26.8 | 2008 | 5 |
Season 11 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 2009 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 26.8 | +26.8 | 2009 | 10 |
Season 13 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 2011 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 27.7 | +27.7 | 2011 | 21 |
Season 15 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 2013 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 2013 | 0 |
Season 19 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | 9.2 | +9.2 | 2017 | 6 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 2017 | 0 |
Season 20 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 2018 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 2018 | 0 |
Season 21 | Points per game | Year | Games | |
| Vince Carter | - | DNP | 2019 | 0 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | - | DNP | 2019 | 0 |
Vince Carter's additional Playoffs: | ||||
- In his additional NBA year, Vince Carter didn't play in the postseason. |