Yao Ming vs. Ish Smith Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Ish Smith and Yao Ming, 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.

Yao Ming played 8 years in the NBA, 6 less than Ish Smith, who played 14. Yao Ming had the first of his seasons in 2002-03, 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
	Yao Ming	Ish Smith
Season	2002-03	2010-11
Team	Houston Rockets	Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Yao Ming	82	29.0	13.5	2.4	5.8	8.2	1.7	0.4	1.8	2.1	2.8	4.9	9.8	.498	0.0	0.0	.500	3.7	4.5	.811
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		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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
	Yao Ming	Ish Smith
Season	2003-04	2011-12
Team	Houston Rockets	Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Yao Ming	82	32.8	17.5	2.4	6.6	9.0	1.5	0.3	1.9	2.5	3.3	6.5	12.5	.522	0.0	0.0	.000	4.4	5.4	.809
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		%
Yao Ming	5	37.6	15.0	2.2	5.2	7.4	1.8	0.4	1.4	2.6	4.0	6.2	13.6	.456	0.0	0.0	-	2.6	3.4	.765
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
	Yao Ming	Ish Smith
Season	2004-05	2012-13
Team	Houston Rockets	Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Yao Ming	80	30.6	18.3	2.6	5.8	8.4	0.8	0.4	2.0	2.5	3.7	6.7	12.2	.552	0.0	0.0	-	4.9	6.2	.783
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		%
Yao Ming	7	31.9	21.4	3.3	4.4	7.7	0.7	0.3	2.7	2.7	4.4	7.9	12.0	.655	0.0	0.0	-	5.7	7.9	.727
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
	Yao Ming	Ish Smith
Season	2005-06	2013-14
Team	Houston Rockets	Phoenix Suns
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Yao Ming	57	34.2	22.3	2.6	7.6	10.2	1.5	0.5	1.6	2.6	3.4	8.2	15.8	.519	0.0	0.0	.000	5.9	6.9	.853
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		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ish Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Yao Ming	Ish Smith
Season	2006-07	2014-15
Team	Houston Rockets	Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Yao Ming	48	33.8	25.0	2.1	7.3	9.4	2.0	0.4	2.0	3.5	3.3	8.8	17.1	.516	0.0	0.0	.000	7.4	8.6	.862
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		%
Yao Ming	7	37.1	25.1	3.3	7.0	10.3	0.9	0.1	0.7	4.7	3.9	7.9	17.9	.440	0.0	0.0	-	9.4	10.7	.880
Ish Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	Yao Ming	Ish Smith
Season	2007-08	2015-16
Team	Houston Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Yao Ming	55	37.2	22.0	3.1	7.7	10.8	2.3	0.5	2.0	3.3	3.1	7.9	15.5	.507	0.0	0.0	.000	6.3	7.4	.850
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		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ish Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 7
	Yao Ming	Ish Smith
Season	2008-09	2016-17
Team	Houston Rockets	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets 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		%
Yao Ming	77	33.6	19.7	2.6	7.2	9.9	1.8	0.4	1.9	3.0	3.3	7.4	13.4	.548	0.0	0.0	1.000	4.9	5.7	.866
Ish Smith	81	24.1	9.4	0.3	2.6	2.9	5.2	0.8	0.4	1.4	1.6	4.1	9.2	.439	0.3	1.3	.267	0.9	1.3	.706
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	9	35.9	17.1	2.1	8.8	10.9	1.0	0.4	1.2	1.9	3.0	6.0	11.0	.545	0.0	0.0	-	5.1	5.7	.902
Ish Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Yao Ming didn't play in 2009-10.

Season 8
	Yao Ming	Ish Smith
Season	2010-11	2017-18
Team	Houston Rockets	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Yao Ming	5	18.2	10.2	1.4	4.0	5.4	0.8	0.0	1.6	1.4	2.6	3.6	7.4	.486	0.0	0.0	-	3.0	3.2	.938
Ish Smith	82	24.9	10.9	0.3	2.4	2.7	4.4	0.8	0.2	1.3	1.7	4.7	9.8	.486	0.4	1.2	.347	1.0	1.4	.698
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ish Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 13
	Yao Ming	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		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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	-