Anthony Edwards vs. Elvin Hayes Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Elvin Hayes and Anthony Edwards, 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.

Anthony Edwards played 5 years in the NBA, 11 less than Elvin Hayes, who played 16. Anthony Edwards had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Elvin Hayes had his rookie season in 1968-69. 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
	Anthony Edwards	Elvin Hayes
Season	2020-21	1968-69
Team	Minnesota Timberwolves	San Diego Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Rockets Lost West Div 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		%
Anthony Edwards	72	32.1	19.3	0.8	3.8	4.7	2.9	1.1	0.5	2.2	1.8	7.0	16.8	.417	2.4	7.2	.329	2.9	3.8	.776
difference:	+10	+13.0	+9.1			+12.4	+1.5				-1.4	+4.3	+8.6	+.030				+2.8	+5.3	+.150
Elvin Hayes	82	45.1	28.4	-	-	17.1	1.4	-	-	-	3.2	11.3	25.4	.447	-	-	-	5.7	9.1	.626
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Anthony Edwards	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elvin Hayes	6	46.3	25.8	-	-	13.8	0.8	-	-	-	3.5	10.0	19.0	.526	-	-	-	5.8	8.8	.660

Season 2
	Anthony Edwards	Elvin Hayes
Season	2021-22	1969-70
Team	Minnesota Timberwolves	San Diego Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	Rebounds Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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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		%
Anthony Edwards	72	34.3	21.3	0.9	3.9	4.8	3.8	1.5	0.6	2.6	2.3	7.6	17.3	.441	3.0	8.4	.357	3.1	3.9	.786
difference:	+10	+10.4	+6.2			+12.1	+1.8				-1.0	+3.5	+7.3	+.011				+2.1	+3.7	+.098
Elvin Hayes	82	44.7	27.5	-	-	16.9	2.0	-	-	-	3.3	11.1	24.6	.452	-	-	-	5.2	7.6	.688
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Anthony Edwards	6	37.8	25.2	0.7	3.5	4.2	3.0	1.2	1.2	2.5	3.7	8.3	18.3	.455	3.8	9.5	.404	4.7	5.7	.824
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Anthony Edwards	Elvin Hayes
Season	2022-23	1970-71
Team	Minnesota Timberwolves	San Diego Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Anthony Edwards	79	36.0	24.6	0.6	5.2	5.8	4.4	1.6	0.7	3.3	2.4	8.9	19.5	.459	2.7	7.3	.369	4.0	5.3	.756
difference:	+3	+8.3	+4.1			+10.8	+2.1				-0.3	+2.7	+7.5	+.031				+1.5	+2.9	+.084
Elvin Hayes	82	44.3	28.7	-	-	16.6	2.3	-	-	-	2.7	11.6	27.0	.428	-	-	-	5.5	8.2	.672
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Anthony Edwards	5	39.8	31.6	0.6	4.4	5.0	5.2	1.8	2.0	1.6	2.6	11.0	22.8	.482	3.0	8.6	.349	6.6	7.8	.846
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Anthony Edwards	Elvin Hayes
Season	2023-24	1971-72
Team	Minnesota Timberwolves	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Timberwolves Lost West Conf Finals	Did Not Play

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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		%
Anthony Edwards	79	35.1	25.9	0.7	4.8	5.4	5.1	1.3	0.5	3.1	1.8	9.1	19.7	.461	2.4	6.7	.357	5.4	6.4	.836
difference:	+3	+7.1	+0.7			+9.2	+1.8				-1.0	+1.0	+3.7	+.027				+0.5	+1.1	+.187
Elvin Hayes	82	42.2	25.2	-	-	14.6	3.3	-	-	-	2.8	10.1	23.4	.434	-	-	-	4.9	7.5	.649
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Anthony Edwards	16	40.6	27.6	1.1	5.9	7.0	6.5	1.5	0.6	3.3	2.3	9.8	20.3	.481	2.9	7.2	.400	5.2	6.4	.814
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Anthony Edwards	Elvin Hayes
Season	2024-25	1972-73
Team	Minnesota Timberwolves	Baltimore Bullets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	All-NBA Second Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Timberwolves Lost West Conf Finals	Bullets Lost East Conf Semis

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5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Anthony Edwards	79	36.3	27.6	0.8	4.9	5.7	4.5	1.2	0.6	3.2	1.9	9.1	20.4	.447	4.1	10.3	.395	5.3	6.3	.837
difference:	+2	+5.0	+6.4			+8.8	+2.9				-1.0	+0.3	+0.6	+.003				+1.7	+0.9	+.166
Elvin Hayes	81	41.3	21.2	-	-	14.5	1.6	-	-	-	2.9	8.8	19.8	.444	-	-	-	3.6	5.4	.671
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Anthony Edwards	15	39.0	25.3	1.2	6.6	7.8	5.5	1.1	0.7	2.6	2.1	9.0	19.9	.453	3.1	8.7	.354	4.3	5.9	.719
difference:	+10	+6.6	+0.5			+3.6	+4.5				-1.1	+1.6	+1.1	+.052				+0.3	+0.7	+.022
Elvin Hayes	5	45.6	25.8	-	-	11.4	1.0	-	-	-	3.2	10.6	21.0	.505	-	-	-	4.6	6.6	.697

Additional Years
* Elvin Hayes played 11 seasons more than Anthony Edwards in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 16, from 1974 to 1984—Elvin Hayes played in 8 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 11 extra years over Anthony Edwards, Elvin Hayes got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 All-NBA First Team 2 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Rebounds Leader 7 All-Star Game