Pat Riley vs. Karl-Anthony Towns Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Karl-Anthony Towns and Pat Riley, 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.

Pat Riley and Karl-Anthony Towns both played 9 years in the NBA. Pat Riley had the first of his seasons in 1967-68, while Karl-Anthony Towns had his rookie season in 2015-16. 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
Rookie Season
	Pat Riley	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1967-68	2015-16
Team	San Diego Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	Rookie of the Year
	-	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	80	15.8	7.9	-	-	2.2	1.7	-	-	-	2.6	3.1	8.3	.379	-	-	-	1.6	2.5	.634
Karl-Anthony Towns	82	32.0	18.3	2.8	7.7	10.5	2.0	0.7	1.7	2.2	3.0	7.6	14.1	.542	0.4	1.1	.341	2.7	3.4	.811
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Karl-Anthony Towns	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Pat Riley	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1969-70	2017-18
Team	San Diego Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves 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		%
Pat Riley	36	13.2	5.3	-	-	1.6	2.4	-	-	-	1.9	2.1	5.0	.417	-	-	-	1.1	1.5	.727
Karl-Anthony Towns	82	35.6	21.3	2.9	9.4	12.3	2.4	0.8	1.4	1.9	3.5	7.8	14.3	.545	1.5	3.5	.421	4.2	4.9	.858
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Karl-Anthony Towns	5	34.0	15.2	3.0	10.4	13.4	2.2	0.4	1.0	2.4	2.8	5.6	12.0	.467	0.6	2.2	.273	3.4	4.6	.739

Season 4
	Pat Riley	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1970-71	2018-19
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West 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		%
Pat Riley	54	9.4	4.9	-	-	1.0	1.3	-	-	-	1.6	1.9	4.7	.413	-	-	-	1.0	1.6	.644
Karl-Anthony Towns	77	33.1	24.4	3.4	9.0	12.4	3.4	0.9	1.6	3.1	3.8	8.8	17.1	.518	1.8	4.6	.400	4.9	5.8	.836
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	7	19.3	9.4	-	-	2.1	2.0	-	-	-	1.7	4.1	9.9	.420	-	-	-	1.1	1.6	.727
Karl-Anthony Towns	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Pat Riley	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1971-72	2019-20
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards
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		%
Pat Riley	67	13.8	6.7	-	-	1.9	1.1	-	-	-	1.6	2.9	6.6	.447	-	-	-	0.8	1.1	.743
Karl-Anthony Towns	35	33.9	26.5	2.7	8.1	10.8	4.4	0.9	1.2	3.1	3.3	9.0	17.8	.508	3.3	7.9	.412	5.1	6.5	.796
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	15	16.3	5.2	-	-	1.9	0.9	-	-	-	2.5	2.2	6.6	.333	-	-	-	0.8	1.1	.750
Karl-Anthony Towns	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 7
	Pat Riley	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1973-74	2021-22
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf Semis	Timberwolves 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		%
Pat Riley	72	18.9	9.5	0.5	1.3	1.8	2.1	0.8	0.0	-	2.4	4.0	9.3	.430	-	-	-	1.5	2.0	.764
Karl-Anthony Towns	74	33.5	24.6	2.6	7.2	9.8	3.6	1.0	1.1	3.1	3.6	8.7	16.4	.529	2.0	4.9	.410	5.2	6.3	.822
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	5	21.2	7.8	0.6	0.6	1.2	2.0	0.8	0.0	-	2.2	3.6	10.0	.360	-	-	-	0.6	0.8	.750
Karl-Anthony Towns	6	37.0	21.8	1.8	9.0	10.8	2.2	0.7	2.0	4.5	4.2	6.5	13.3	.488	1.7	3.7	.455	7.2	8.3	.860

Season 9
	Pat Riley	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1975-76	2023-24
Team	Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Suns Lost NBA Finals	Timberwolves Lost West Conf Finals

more >>

Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	62	13.1	4.7	0.3	0.5	0.8	0.9	0.4	0.1	-	1.8	1.9	4.9	.389	-	-	-	0.9	1.2	.714
Karl-Anthony Towns	62	32.7	21.8	1.5	6.8	8.3	3.0	0.7	0.7	2.9	3.3	7.7	15.3	.504	2.2	5.3	.416	4.1	4.7	.873
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	5	5.4	2.6	0.0	0.0	0	1.0	0.0	0.0	-	0.6	1.2	3.0	.400	-	-	-	0.2	0.2	1.000
Karl-Anthony Towns	16	32.6	19.1	2.2	6.8	9.0	2.6	0.8	0.2	1.7	3.4	6.8	14.5	.466	1.9	5.2	.361	3.7	4.3	.855