Donovan Mitchell vs. Elmore Smith Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Elmore Smith and Donovan Mitchell, 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.

Donovan Mitchell played 7 years in the NBA, 1 less than Elmore Smith, who played 8. Donovan Mitchell had the first of his seasons in 2017-18, while Elmore Smith had his rookie season in 1971-72. 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 achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
Rookie Season
	Donovan Mitchell	Elmore Smith
Season	2017-18	1971-72
Team	Utah Jazz	Buffalo Braves
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Jazz Lost West Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	79	33.4	20.5	0.7	3.1	3.7	3.7	1.5	0.3	2.7	2.7	7.5	17.2	.437	2.4	7.0	.340	3.0	3.8	.805
Elmore Smith	78	40.8	17.3	-	-	15.2	1.4	-	-	-	3.9	7.4	16.3	.454	-	-	-	2.5	4.7	.534
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	11	37.4	24.4	0.8	5.1	5.9	4.2	1.5	0.4	2.9	3.2	9.3	22.1	.420	2.3	7.3	.313	3.5	3.9	.907
Elmore Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Donovan Mitchell	Elmore Smith
Season	2019-20	1973-74
Team	Utah Jazz	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	Blocks Leader
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Jazz Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Lakers Lost West Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	69	34.3	24.0	0.8	3.6	4.4	4.3	1.0	0.2	2.7	2.5	8.7	19.4	.449	2.5	6.9	.366	4.0	4.7	.863
Elmore Smith	81	36.1	12.5	2.5	8.7	11.2	1.9	0.9	4.9	-	3.8	5.4	11.7	.457	-	-	-	1.8	3.1	.590
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	7	37.7	36.3	0.9	4.1	5.0	4.9	1.0	0.3	4.1	1.6	11.9	22.4	.529	4.7	9.1	.516	7.9	8.3	.948
Elmore Smith	5	34.2	19.2	3.8	6.8	10.6	1.2	1.4	1.6	-	4.0	8.4	17.6	.477	-	-	-	2.4	3.4	.706

Season 4
	Donovan Mitchell	Elmore Smith
Season	2020-21	1974-75
Team	Utah Jazz	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Jazz Lost West Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	53	33.4	26.4	0.9	3.5	4.4	5.2	1.0	0.3	2.8	2.2	9.0	20.6	.438	3.4	8.7	.386	5.0	6.0	.845
Elmore Smith	74	31.6	10.9	2.8	8.1	10.9	2.0	1.1	2.9	-	3.4	4.7	9.5	.493	-	-	-	1.5	3.1	.485
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	10	34.6	32.3	0.3	3.9	4.2	5.5	1.1	0.2	2.8	2.0	10.5	23.5	.447	5.0	11.5	.435	6.3	7.6	.829
Elmore Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Donovan Mitchell	Elmore Smith
Season	2021-22	1975-76
Team	Utah Jazz	Milwaukee Bucks
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Jazz Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Bucks Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	67	33.8	25.9	0.8	3.4	4.2	5.3	1.5	0.2	3.0	2.4	9.2	20.5	.448	3.5	9.8	.355	4.0	4.7	.853
Elmore Smith	78	36.0	15.6	2.6	8.9	11.4	1.2	1.0	3.1	-	3.4	6.4	12.3	.518	-	-	-	2.8	4.5	.632
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	6	38.2	25.5	1.0	3.3	4.3	5.7	0.7	0.5	2.7	2.3	8.8	22.2	.398	1.7	8.0	.208	6.2	7.0	.881
Elmore Smith	3	34.7	14.7	1.7	5.7	7.3	0.3	0.7	3.7	-	4.7	5.0	9.0	.556	-	-	-	4.7	7.0	.667

Season 6
	Donovan Mitchell	Elmore Smith
Season	2022-23	1976-77
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Cavaliers Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Cavaliers Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	68	35.8	28.3	0.9	3.3	4.3	4.4	1.5	0.4	2.6	2.5	10.0	20.6	.484	3.6	9.3	.386	4.7	5.4	.867
Elmore Smith	70	20.9	8.6	1.6	4.6	6.3	0.6	0.5	2.1	-	3.0	3.4	7.2	.475	-	-	-	1.7	3.0	.549
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	5	41.4	23.2	0.6	4.4	5.0	7.2	2.0	0.6	3.8	2.8	9.0	20.8	.433	2.6	9.0	.289	2.6	3.6	.722
Elmore Smith	3	18.7	13.7	2.0	6.0	8.0	0.3	1.7	1.0	-	3.3	6.0	11.0	.545	-	-	-	1.7	2.7	.625

Season 7
	Donovan Mitchell	Elmore Smith
Season	2023-24	1977-78
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Cavaliers TBD	Cavaliers Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	55	35.3	26.6	0.8	4.3	5.1	6.1	1.8	0.5	2.8	2.1	9.1	19.8	.462	3.3	9.0	.368	5.0	5.8	.865
Elmore Smith	81	24.6	12.5	2.2	6.2	8.4	0.7	0.6	2.2	1.7	3.0	5.0	10.0	.497	-	-	-	2.5	3.8	.663
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Donovan Mitchell	9	37.7	29.2	0.7	4.7	5.3	4.9	1.2	0.3	3.1	3.0	10.6	22.6	.468	2.4	7.8	.314	5.7	6.9	.823
Elmore Smith	2	28.0	12.5	3.0	6.5	9.5	0.0	1.5	1.5	2.5	4.5	5.5	12.0	.458	-	-	-	1.5	3.0	.500