George Mikan vs. Ish Smith Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Ish Smith and George Mikan, 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.

George Mikan played 7 years in the NBA, 7 less than Ish Smith, who played 14. George Mikan had the first of his seasons in 1948-49, while Ish Smith had his rookie season in 2010-11. 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: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14
Rookie Season
	George Mikan	Ish Smith
Season	1948-49	2010-11
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Grizzlies 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		%
George Mikan	60	-	28.3	-	-	-	3.6	-	-	-	4.3	9.7	23.4	.416	-	-	-	8.9	11.5	.772
Ish Smith	43	10.3	2.3	0.2	0.9	1.1	1.8	0.4	0.0	0.8	0.9	1.0	2.7	.374	0.1	0.2	.300	0.3	0.5	.571
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	10	-	30.3	-	-	-	2.1	-	-	-	4.4	10.3	22.7	.454	-	-	-	9.7	12.1	.802
Ish Smith	5	2.0	0.8	0.0	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.6	.667	0.0	0.0	-	0.0	0.0	-

Season 2
	George Mikan	Ish Smith
Season	1949-50	2011-12
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Magic 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		%
George Mikan	68	-	27.4	-	-	-	2.9	-	-	-	4.4	9.5	23.5	.407	-	-	-	8.3	10.7	.779
Ish Smith	26	9.0	2.8	0.3	1.1	1.3	1.6	0.6	0.1	0.5	0.6	1.2	3.1	.383	0.1	0.3	.333	0.3	0.4	.700
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	12	-	31.3	-	-	-	3.0	-	-	-	3.9	10.1	26.3	.383	-	-	-	11.2	14.2	.788
Ish Smith	1	5.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	-	0.0	0.0	-	0.0	0.0	-

Season 3
	George Mikan	Ish Smith
Season	1950-51	2012-13
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Div Finals	Bucks 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		%
George Mikan	68	-	28.4	-	-	14.1	3.1	-	-	-	4.5	10.0	23.3	.428	-	-	-	8.5	10.5	.803
Ish Smith	52	9.9	2.4	0.2	0.9	1.2	1.7	0.4	0.2	0.7	0.5	1.1	3.1	.352	0.2	0.5	.296	0.1	0.1	.429
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	7	-	24.0	-	-	10.6	1.3	-	-	-	3.6	8.9	21.7	.408	-	-	-	6.3	7.9	.800
Ish Smith	4	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.3	.000	0.0	0.0	-	0.0	0.0	-

Season 4
	George Mikan	Ish Smith
Season	1951-52	2013-14
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Phoenix Suns
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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		%
George Mikan	64	40.2	23.8	-	-	13.5	3.0	-	-	-	4.5	8.5	22.1	.385	-	-	-	6.8	8.7	.780
Ish Smith	70	14.4	3.7	0.4	1.4	1.8	2.6	0.7	0.2	0.9	0.9	1.7	4.0	.423	0.0	0.3	.043	0.3	0.6	.564
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	13	42.5	23.6	-	-	15.9	2.8	-	-	-	4.8	7.6	20.1	.379	-	-	-	8.4	10.6	.790
Ish Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	George Mikan	Ish Smith
Season	1952-53	2014-15
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game NVP	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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		%
George Mikan	70	37.9	20.6	-	-	14.4	2.9	-	-	-	4.1	7.1	17.9	.399	-	-	-	6.3	8.1	.780
Ish Smith	55	15.1	6.1	0.3	1.5	1.8	3.3	0.7	0.1	1.4	0.9	2.6	6.7	.390	0.3	1.1	.300	0.6	1.0	.596
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	12	38.6	19.8	-	-	15.4	1.9	-	-	-	4.7	6.5	17.8	.366	-	-	-	6.8	9.3	.732
Ish Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	George Mikan	Ish Smith
Season	1953-54	2015-16
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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		%
George Mikan	72	32.8	18.1	-	-	14.3	2.4	-	-	-	3.7	6.1	16.1	.380	-	-	-	5.9	7.6	.777
Ish Smith	77	29.1	12.6	0.6	3.4	4.0	6.5	1.1	0.3	2.3	1.7	5.2	12.6	.411	0.7	2.2	.329	1.6	2.3	.693
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	13	32.6	19.4	-	-	13.2	1.9	-	-	-	4.3	6.7	14.6	.458	-	-	-	6.0	7.4	.813
Ish Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: George Mikan didn't play in 1954-55.

Season 13
	George Mikan	Ish Smith
Season	-	2022-23
Team	-	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	-	NBA Champion

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ish Smith	43	9.3	2.5	0.1	1.1	1.3	2.3	0.2	0.2	1.0	0.8	1.2	3.0	.397	0.0	0.3	.167	0.0	0.1	.500
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ish Smith	4	3.0	0.5	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.3	0.5	.500	0.0	0.0	-	0.0	0.0	-