Dave Cowens vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dave Cowens, 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.

Dave Cowens played 11 years in the NBA, 5 more than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who played 6. Dave Cowens had the first of his seasons in 1970-71, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his rookie season in 2018-19. 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
Rookie Season
	Dave Cowens	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1970-71	2018-19
Team	Boston Celtics	Los Angeles Clippers
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Clippers Lost West Conf 1st Rd

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	81	38.0	17.0	-	-	15.0	2.8	-	-	-	4.3	6.8	16.1	.422	-	-	-	3.4	4.6	.732
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	82	26.5	10.8	0.7	2.1	2.8	3.3	1.2	0.5	1.7	2.1	4.2	8.7	.476	0.6	1.7	.367	1.9	2.4	.800
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	6	28.8	13.7	0.7	2.0	2.7	3.2	1.0	0.8	0.8	2.8	4.7	10.0	.467	1.5	3.0	.500	2.8	3.3	.850

Season 2
	Dave Cowens	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1971-72	2019-20
Team	Boston Celtics	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals	Thunder Lost West Conf 1st Rd

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	79	40.3	18.8	-	-	15.2	3.1	-	-	-	4.0	8.3	17.2	.484	-	-	-	2.2	3.1	.720
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	70	34.7	19.0	0.7	5.2	5.9	3.3	1.1	0.7	1.9	1.7	6.8	14.5	.471	1.2	3.6	.347	4.1	5.1	.807
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	11	40.1	15.5	-	-	13.8	3.0	-	-	-	4.5	6.5	14.2	.455	-	-	-	2.5	4.3	.596
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	7	39.9	16.3	0.4	4.9	5.3	4.1	1.0	0.4	2.1	2.4	5.6	12.9	.433	2.0	5.0	.400	3.1	3.3	.957

Season 3
	Dave Cowens	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1972-73	2020-21
Team	Boston Celtics	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	Season MVP	-
	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game NVP	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals	Did Not Play

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	82	41.8	20.5	-	-	16.2	4.1	-	-	-	3.8	9.0	20.0	.452	-	-	-	2.5	3.2	.779
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	35	33.7	23.7	0.5	4.2	4.7	5.9	0.8	0.7	3.0	2.0	8.2	16.1	.508	2.0	4.9	.418	5.3	6.5	.808
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	13	46.0	21.9	-	-	16.6	3.7	-	-	-	4.2	9.9	21.0	.473	-	-	-	2.1	3.2	.659
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Dave Cowens	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1973-74	2021-22
Team	Boston Celtics	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	80	41.9	19.0	3.3	12.4	15.7	4.4	1.2	1.3	-	3.7	8.1	18.4	.437	-	-	-	2.9	3.4	.832
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	56	34.7	24.5	0.7	4.3	5.0	5.9	1.3	0.8	2.8	2.5	8.5	18.8	.453	1.6	5.3	.300	5.9	7.2	.810
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	18	42.9	20.5	3.3	10.0	13.3	3.7	1.2	0.9	-	4.7	8.9	20.6	.435	-	-	-	2.6	3.3	.797
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Dave Cowens	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1974-75	2022-23
Team	Boston Celtics	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals	Did Not Play

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	65	40.5	20.4	3.5	11.2	14.7	4.6	1.3	1.1	-	3.7	8.8	18.4	.475	-	-	-	2.9	3.8	.783
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	68	35.5	31.4	0.9	4.0	4.8	5.5	1.6	1.0	2.8	2.8	10.4	20.3	.510	0.9	2.5	.345	9.8	10.9	.905
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	11	43.5	20.5	4.5	12.0	16.5	4.2	1.6	0.5	-	4.5	9.2	21.5	.428	-	-	-	2.1	2.4	.885
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	Dave Cowens	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1975-76	2023-24
Team	Boston Celtics	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	-	Steals Leader
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Thunder Lost West Conf Semis

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	78	39.8	19.0	4.3	11.7	16.0	4.2	1.2	0.9	-	4.0	7.8	16.7	.468	-	-	-	3.3	4.4	.756
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	75	34.0	30.1	0.9	4.7	5.5	6.2	2.0	0.9	2.2	2.5	10.6	19.8	.535	1.3	3.6	.353	7.6	8.7	.874
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	18	44.3	21.0	4.8	11.6	16.4	4.6	1.2	0.7	-	4.7	8.7	18.9	.457	-	-	-	3.7	4.8	.759
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	10	39.9	30.2	0.8	6.4	7.2	6.4	1.3	1.7	2.2	3.1	11.1	22.4	.496	1.6	3.7	.432	6.4	8.1	.790

Season 7
	Dave Cowens	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1976-77	-
Team	Boston Celtics	-
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Semis	-

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	50	37.8	16.4	2.9	11.0	13.9	5.0	0.9	1.0	-	3.6	6.6	15.1	.434	-	-	-	3.2	4.0	.818
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	9	42.1	16.6	3.2	11.7	14.9	4.0	0.9	1.4	-	4.1	7.3	16.4	.446	-	-	-	1.9	2.4	.773
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 8
	Dave Cowens	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1977-78	-
Team	Boston Celtics	-
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	-

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	77	41.8	18.6	3.2	10.8	14.0	4.6	1.3	0.9	2.8	3.9	7.8	15.8	.490	-	-	-	3.1	3.7	.842
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 10
	Dave Cowens	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1979-80	-
Team	Boston Celtics	-
Honors & Awards	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals	-

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	66	32.7	14.2	1.9	6.2	8.1	3.1	1.0	0.9	1.6	3.3	6.4	14.1	.453	0.0	0.2	.083	1.4	1.8	.779
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave Cowens	9	33.4	12.0	2.0	5.3	7.3	2.3	1.0	0.8	0.9	4.1	5.4	11.4	.476	0.0	0.2	.000	1.1	1.2	.909
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Dave Cowens didn't play in 1980-81 and 1981-82.