Bill Russell vs. Franz Wagner Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Franz Wagner and Bill Russell, 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.

Bill Russell played 13 years in the NBA, 8 more than Franz Wagner, who played 5. Bill Russell had the first of his seasons in 1956-57, while Franz Wagner had his rookie season in 2021-22. 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
	Bill Russell	Franz Wagner
Season	1956-57	2021-22
Team	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

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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		%
Bill Russell	48	35.3	14.7	-	-	19.6	1.8	-	-	-	3.0	5.8	13.5	.427	-	-	-	3.2	6.4	.492
difference:	+31	+4.6	+0.5			+15.1	+1.1				-0.9		+1.2	+.041				+0.8	+3.6	+.371
Franz Wagner	79	30.7	15.2	1.1	3.4	4.5	2.9	0.9	0.4	1.5	2.1	5.8	12.3	.468	1.2	3.4	.354	2.4	2.8	.863
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Bill Russell	10	40.9	13.9	-	-	24.4	3.2	-	-	-	4.1	5.4	14.8	.365	-	-	-	3.1	6.1	.508
Franz Wagner	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Bill Russell	Franz Wagner
Season	1957-58	2022-23
Team	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	Season MVP	-
	All-NBA Second Team	-
	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost NBA Finals	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		%
Bill Russell	69	38.3	16.6	-	-	22.7	2.9	-	-	-	2.6	6.6	15.0	.442	-	-	-	3.3	6.4	.519
difference:	+11	+5.7	+2.0			+18.6	+0.6				-0.3	+0.2	+1.0	+.043				+0.1	+2.4	+.323
Franz Wagner	80	32.6	18.6	0.9	3.2	4.1	3.5	1.0	0.2	2.1	2.3	6.8	14.0	.485	1.6	4.5	.361	3.4	4.0	.842
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Bill Russell	9	39.4	15.1	-	-	24.6	2.7	-	-	-	2.7	5.3	14.8	.361	-	-	-	4.4	7.3	.606
Franz Wagner	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Bill Russell	Franz Wagner
Season	1958-59	2023-24
Team	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Bill Russell	70	42.6	16.7	-	-	23.0	3.2	-	-	-	2.3	6.5	14.2	.457	-	-	-	3.7	6.1	.598
difference:	+2	+10.1	+3.0			+17.7	+0.5					+0.8	+1.0	+.025				+0.1	+1.7	+.252
Franz Wagner	72	32.5	19.7	1.0	4.3	5.3	3.7	1.1	0.4	1.9	2.3	7.3	15.2	.482	1.3	4.6	.281	3.8	4.4	.850
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Bill Russell	11	45.1	15.5	-	-	27.7	3.6	-	-	-	2.5	5.9	14.5	.409	-	-	-	3.7	6.1	.612
difference:	+4	+8.1	+3.4			+20.8	+0.8				-0.4	+0.1	+0.2	+.001				+1.9	+0.2	+.274
Franz Wagner	7	37.0	18.9	1.4	5.4	6.9	4.4	0.7	1.3	1.3	2.9	6.0	14.7	.408	1.3	4.9	.265	5.6	6.3	.886

Season 4
	Bill Russell	Franz Wagner
Season	1959-60	2024-25
Team	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Bill Russell	74	42.5	18.2	-	-	24.0	3.7	-	-	-	2.8	7.5	16.1	.467	-	-	-	3.2	5.3	.612
difference:	+14	+8.8	+6.0			+18.3	+1.0				-0.3	+1.5	+3.3	+.004				+1.3	+0.1	+.259
Franz Wagner	60	33.7	24.2	0.9	4.8	5.7	4.7	1.3	0.4	2.3	2.5	9.0	19.4	.463	1.7	5.9	.295	4.5	5.2	.871
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Bill Russell	13	44.0	18.5	-	-	25.8	2.9	-	-	-	2.9	7.2	15.8	.456	-	-	-	4.1	5.8	.707
difference:	+8	+5.0	+7.3			+21.0	+2.7				-0.3	+3.0	+7.2	+.013				+0.1	+0.6	+.062
Franz Wagner	5	39.0	25.8	0.6	4.2	4.8	5.6	1.2	0.4	2.0	3.2	10.2	23.0	.443	1.4	7.4	.189	4.0	5.2	.769

Season 5
	Bill Russell	Franz Wagner
Season	1960-61	2025-26
Team	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	Season MVP	-
	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

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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		%
Bill Russell	78	44.3	16.9	-	-	23.9	3.4	-	-	-	2.0	6.8	16.0	.426	-	-	-	3.3	6.0	.550
difference:	+73	+9.3	+5.5			+18.3	+0.4				-1.4	+1.2	+1.0	+.107				+1.5	+0.8	+.156
Franz Wagner	5	35.0	22.4	1.0	4.6	5.6	3.0	1.0	0.4	2.0	3.4	8.0	15.0	.533	1.6	3.8	.421	4.8	6.8	.706
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Bill Russell	10	46.2	19.1	-	-	29.9	4.8	-	-	-	2.4	7.3	17.1	.427	-	-	-	4.5	8.6	.523
Franz Wagner	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Bill Russell played 8 seasons more than Franz Wagner in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 13, from 1962 to 1969—Bill Russell played in 8 Playoffs and won 7 NBA Championships. In those 8 extra years over Franz Wagner, Bill Russell got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 Season MVP 2 All-NBA First Team 5 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive First Team 2 Rebounds Leader 8 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP