George Mikan vs. Cody Zeller Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Cody Zeller 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, 4 less than Cody Zeller, who played 11. George Mikan had the first of his seasons in 1948-49, while Cody Zeller had his rookie season in 2013-14. 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
	George Mikan	Cody Zeller
Season	1948-49	2013-14
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Charlotte Bobcats
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie Second Team
	Scoring Leader	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Bobcats 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	60	-	28.3	-	-	-	3.6	-	-	-	4.3	9.7	23.4	.416	-	-	-	8.9	11.5	.772
Cody Zeller	82	17.3	6.0	1.4	2.9	4.3	1.1	0.5	0.5	1.1	2.1	2.1	4.9	.426	0.0	0.0	.000	1.8	2.4	.730
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
Cody Zeller	4	13.3	2.0	1.3	1.0	2.3	0.5	0.0	0.8	0.5	0.8	0.8	2.3	.333	0.0	0.0	-	0.5	1.0	.500

Season 2
	George Mikan	Cody Zeller
Season	1949-50	2014-15
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Charlotte Hornets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
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	68	-	27.4	-	-	-	2.9	-	-	-	4.4	9.5	23.5	.407	-	-	-	8.3	10.7	.779
Cody Zeller	62	24.0	7.6	1.6	4.3	5.8	1.6	0.5	0.8	1.0	2.5	2.8	6.0	.461	0.0	0.0	1.000	2.0	2.6	.774
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
Cody Zeller	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	George Mikan	Cody Zeller
Season	1950-51	2015-16
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Charlotte Hornets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Div Finals	Hornets 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
Cody Zeller	73	24.3	8.7	1.9	4.3	6.2	1.0	0.8	0.9	0.9	2.8	3.2	6.0	.529	0.0	0.1	.100	2.4	3.2	.754
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
Cody Zeller	7	19.6	8.4	1.3	4.0	5.3	0.3	0.1	0.4	1.0	2.9	3.0	5.4	.553	0.0	0.0	-	2.4	3.0	.810

Season 4
	George Mikan	Cody Zeller
Season	1951-52	2016-17
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Charlotte Hornets
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
Cody Zeller	62	27.8	10.3	2.2	4.4	6.5	1.6	1.0	0.9	1.0	3.0	4.1	7.1	.571	0.0	0.0	.000	2.1	3.2	.679
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
Cody Zeller	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	George Mikan	Cody Zeller
Season	1952-53	2017-18
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Charlotte Hornets
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
Cody Zeller	33	19.0	7.1	2.0	3.3	5.4	0.9	0.4	0.6	1.0	2.5	2.6	4.7	.545	0.1	0.1	.667	1.8	2.6	.718
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
Cody Zeller	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	George Mikan	Cody Zeller
Season	1953-54	2018-19
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Charlotte Hornets
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
Cody Zeller	49	25.4	10.1	2.2	4.6	6.8	2.1	0.8	0.8	1.3	3.3	3.9	7.0	.551	0.1	0.4	.273	2.3	2.9	.787
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
Cody Zeller	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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