Austin Reaves vs. Bill Russell Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Bill Russell and Austin Reaves, 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.

Austin Reaves played 4 years in the NBA, 9 less than Bill Russell, who played 13. Austin Reaves had the first of his seasons in 2021-22, while Bill Russell had his rookie season in 1956-57. 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
	Austin Reaves	Bill Russell
Season	2021-22	1956-57
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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		%
Austin Reaves	61	23.2	7.3	0.7	2.4	3.2	1.8	0.5	0.3	0.7	1.4	2.4	5.2	.459	0.9	2.7	.317	1.6	1.9	.839
difference:	+13	+12.1	+7.4			+16.4					-1.6	+3.4	+8.3	+.032				+1.6	+4.5	+.347
Bill Russell	48	35.3	14.7	-	-	19.6	1.8	-	-	-	3.0	5.8	13.5	.427	-	-	-	3.2	6.4	.492
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Austin Reaves	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bill Russell	10	40.9	13.9	-	-	24.4	3.2	-	-	-	4.1	5.4	14.8	.365	-	-	-	3.1	6.1	.508

Season 2
	Austin Reaves	Bill Russell
Season	2022-23	1957-58
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Rebounds Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf Finals	Celtics Lost NBA Finals

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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		%
Austin Reaves	64	28.8	13.0	0.5	2.5	3.0	3.4	0.5	0.3	1.5	1.7	4.0	7.7	.529	1.3	3.4	.398	3.6	4.1	.864
difference:	+5	+9.5	+3.6			+19.7	+0.5				-0.9	+2.6	+7.3	+.087				+0.3	+2.3	+.345
Bill Russell	69	38.3	16.6	-	-	22.7	2.9	-	-	-	2.6	6.6	15.0	.442	-	-	-	3.3	6.4	.519
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Austin Reaves	16	36.2	16.9	1.3	3.2	4.4	4.6	0.6	0.2	1.6	2.4	5.6	12.1	.464	2.4	5.5	.443	3.2	3.6	.895
difference:	+7	+3.2	+1.8			+20.2	+1.9				-0.3	+0.3	+2.7	+.103				+1.2	+3.7	+.289
Bill Russell	9	39.4	15.1	-	-	24.6	2.7	-	-	-	2.7	5.3	14.8	.361	-	-	-	4.4	7.3	.606

Season 3
	Austin Reaves	Bill Russell
Season	2023-24	1958-59
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Rebounds Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	NBA Champion
Others	NBA Cup Champion	-

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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		%
Austin Reaves	82	32.1	15.9	0.7	3.6	4.3	5.5	0.8	0.3	2.1	1.9	5.6	11.5	.486	1.9	5.1	.367	2.8	3.3	.853
difference:	+12	+10.5	+0.8			+18.7	+2.3				-0.4	+0.9	+2.7	+.029				+0.9	+2.8	+.255
Bill Russell	70	42.6	16.7	-	-	23.0	3.2	-	-	-	2.3	6.5	14.2	.457	-	-	-	3.7	6.1	.598
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Austin Reaves	5	34.8	16.8	1.0	2.8	3.8	3.6	1.4	0.6	0.8	1.6	6.0	12.6	.476	1.4	5.2	.269	3.4	3.8	.895
difference:	+6	+10.3	+1.3			+23.9					-0.9	+0.1	+1.9	+.067				+0.3	+2.3	+.283
Bill Russell	11	45.1	15.5	-	-	27.7	3.6	-	-	-	2.5	5.9	14.5	.409	-	-	-	3.7	6.1	.612

Season 4
	Austin Reaves	Bill Russell
Season	2024-25	1959-60
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	NBA Champion

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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		%
Austin Reaves	73	34.9	20.2	0.8	3.7	4.5	5.8	1.1	0.3	2.4	2.1	6.5	14.2	.460	2.7	7.3	.377	4.4	5.0	.877
difference:	+1	+7.6	+2.0			+19.5	+2.1				-0.7	+1.0	+1.9	+.007				+1.2	+0.3	+.265
Bill Russell	74	42.5	18.2	-	-	24.0	3.7	-	-	-	2.8	7.5	16.1	.467	-	-	-	3.2	5.3	.612
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Austin Reaves	5	39.2	16.2	0.8	4.6	5.4	3.6	0.2	0.6	2.8	3.6	6.0	14.6	.411	3.0	9.4	.319	1.2	1.4	.857
difference:	+8	+4.8	+2.3			+20.4	+0.7				-0.7	+1.2	+1.2	+.045				+2.9	+4.4	+.150
Bill Russell	13	44.0	18.5	-	-	25.8	2.9	-	-	-	2.9	7.2	15.8	.456	-	-	-	4.1	5.8	.707

Additional Years
* Bill Russell played 9 seasons more than Austin Reaves in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 13, from 1961 to 1969—Bill Russell played in 9 Playoffs and won 8 NBA Championships. In those 9 extra years over Austin Reaves, Bill Russell got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	4 Season MVP 2 All-NBA First Team 6 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive First Team 2 Rebounds Leader 9 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP