Al Horford vs. Ben Simmons Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Ben Simmons and Al Horford, 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.

Al Horford played 18 years in the NBA, 11 more than Ben Simmons, who played 7. Al Horford had the first of his seasons in 2007-08, while Ben Simmons had his rookie season in 2017-18. 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 achievements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Rookie Season
	Al Horford	Ben Simmons
Season	2007-08	2017-18
Team	Atlanta Hawks	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Hawks Lost East Conf 1st Rd	76ers Lost East Conf Semis

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Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Al Horford	81	31.4	10.1	3.1	6.6	9.7	1.5	0.7	0.9	1.7	3.3	4.1	8.2	.499	0.0	0.1	.000	1.9	2.6	.731
difference:		+2.3	+5.7	+1.3	+0.3	+1.6	+6.7	+1.0		-1.7	-0.7	+2.6	+4.1	+.046				+0.5	+1.6	+.171
Ben Simmons	81	33.7	15.8	1.8	6.3	8.1	8.2	1.7	0.9	3.4	2.6	6.7	12.3	.545	0.0	0.1	.000	2.4	4.2	.560
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Al Horford	7	39.6	12.6	3.1	7.3	10.4	3.6	0.4	1.0	2.1	3.7	4.9	10.3	.472	0.0	0.0	-	2.9	3.9	.741
difference:	+3	+2.7	+3.7	+1.5	+0.5	+1.0	+4.1	+1.3	+0.2	-2.3	-0.3	+1.2	+2.2	+.016		+0.1		+1.2	+1.9	+.034
Ben Simmons	10	36.9	16.3	1.6	7.8	9.4	7.7	1.7	0.8	4.4	3.4	6.1	12.5	.488	0.0	0.1	.000	4.1	5.8	.707

Season 2
	Al Horford	Ben Simmons
Season	2008-09	2018-19
Team	Atlanta Hawks	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Hawks Lost East Conf Semis	76ers Lost East Conf Semis

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2nd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Al Horford	67	33.5	11.5	2.2	7.1	9.3	2.4	0.8	1.4	1.5	2.8	4.7	8.9	.525	0.0	0.0	-	2.2	3.1	.727
difference:	+12	+0.7	+5.4		+0.5	+0.5	+5.3	+0.6	+0.6	-2.0	-0.2	+2.1	+3.3	+.038		+0.1		+1.1	+2.3	+.127
Ben Simmons	79	34.2	16.9	2.2	6.6	8.8	7.7	1.4	0.8	3.5	2.6	6.8	12.2	.563	0.0	0.1	.000	3.3	5.4	.600
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Al Horford	9	28.0	6.9	1.3	4.4	5.8	2.0	0.7	0.7	0.4	2.9	2.8	6.6	.424	0.0	0.1	.000	1.3	2.0	.667
difference:	+3	+7.1	+7.0	+0.6	+0.7	+1.2	+4.0	+0.6	+0.3	-2.3	-0.9	+3.2	+3.1	+.197		+0.1		+0.6	+1.3	+.092
Ben Simmons	12	35.1	13.9	1.9	5.1	7.0	6.0	1.3	1.0	2.7	3.8	6.0	9.7	.621	0.0	0.0	-	1.9	3.3	.575

Season 3
	Al Horford	Ben Simmons
Season	2009-10	2019-20
Team	Atlanta Hawks	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	Steals Leader
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Hawks Lost East Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Al Horford	81	35.1	14.2	2.9	7.0	9.9	2.3	0.7	1.1	1.5	2.8	5.8	10.5	.551	0.0	0.0	-	2.6	3.3	.789
difference:	+24	+0.3	+2.2	+0.9	+1.2	+2.1	+5.7	+1.4	+0.5	-2.0	-0.5	+0.8	+0.9	+.029		+0.1		+0.6	+1.9	+.168
Ben Simmons	57	35.4	16.4	2.0	5.8	7.8	8.0	2.1	0.6	3.5	3.3	6.6	11.4	.580	0.0	0.1	.286	3.2	5.2	.621
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Al Horford	11	35.3	14.6	2.5	6.5	9.0	1.8	0.7	1.7	1.4	3.2	6.1	11.6	.523	0.1	0.1	1.000	2.4	2.8	.839
Ben Simmons	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Al Horford	Ben Simmons
Season	2010-11	2020-21
Team	Atlanta Hawks	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Hawks Lost East Conf Semis	76ers Lost East Conf Semis

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4th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Al Horford	77	35.1	15.3	2.4	7.0	9.3	3.5	0.8	1.0	1.5	2.5	6.7	12.0	.557	0.0	0.1	.500	1.9	2.4	.798
difference:	+19	+2.7	+1.0	+0.8	+1.4	+2.1	+3.4	+0.8	+0.4	-1.5	-0.4	+1.1	+1.9		+0.1	+0.1	+.200	+1.1	+2.5	+.185
Ben Simmons	58	32.4	14.3	1.6	5.6	7.2	6.9	1.6	0.6	3.0	2.9	5.6	10.1	.557	0.1	0.2	.300	3.0	4.9	.613
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Al Horford	12	39.0	11.3	2.1	7.5	9.6	3.5	0.4	1.0	1.4	2.8	4.8	11.4	.423	0.0	0.2	.000	1.7	2.2	.769
difference:		+5.5	+0.6		+1.7	+1.7	+5.3	+0.9	+0.2	-0.9	-0.5	+0.1	+3.5	+.198		+0.1		+0.4	+3.9	+.427
Ben Simmons	12	33.5	11.9	2.1	5.8	7.9	8.8	1.3	0.8	2.3	3.3	4.9	7.9	.621	0.0	0.1	.000	2.1	6.1	.342

Note: Ben Simmons didn't play in 2021-22.

Additional Years
* Al Horford played 11 seasons more than Ben Simmons in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 8 to 18, from 2015 to 2025—Al Horford played in 10 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 11 extra years over Ben Simmons, Al Horford got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-Defensive Second Team 3 All-Star Game