Billy Ray Bates vs. Elgin Baylor Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Elgin Baylor and Billy Ray Bates, 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.

Billy Ray Bates played 4 years in the NBA, 10 less than Elgin Baylor, who played 14. Billy Ray Bates had the first of his seasons in 1979-80, while Elgin Baylor had his rookie season in 1958-59. 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: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14
Rookie Season
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	1979-80	1958-59
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Minneapolis Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Rookie of the Year
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game NVP
Playoffs	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Lakers Lost NBA Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	16	14.7	11.3	0.8	1.0	1.8	1.9	0.9	0.1	1.3	1.6	4.5	9.1	.493	0.5	1.2	.421	1.8	2.4	.718
Elgin Baylor	70	40.8	24.9	-	-	15.0	4.1	-	-	-	3.9	8.6	21.2	.408	-	-	-	7.6	9.8	.777
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	3	34.7	25.0	0.7	2.7	3.3	4.0	1.7	0.3	5.0	4.3	10.3	19.7	.525	0.7	2.3	.286	3.7	4.7	.786
Elgin Baylor	13	42.8	25.5	-	-	12.0	3.3	-	-	-	4.0	9.4	23.3	.403	-	-	-	6.7	8.7	.770

Season 2
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	1980-81	1959-60
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Minneapolis Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Lakers Lost West Div Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	77	20.3	13.8	0.9	1.1	2.0	2.5	1.1	0.1	1.9	1.6	5.7	11.7	.487	0.2	0.7	.259	2.2	2.6	.854
Elgin Baylor	70	41.0	29.6	-	-	16.4	3.5	-	-	-	3.3	10.8	25.4	.424	-	-	-	8.1	11.0	.732
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	3	38.3	28.3	1.0	1.3	2.3	4.3	1.7	0.3	3.7	3.7	11.7	20.7	.565	0.3	0.3	1.000	4.7	5.7	.824
Elgin Baylor	9	45.3	33.4	-	-	14.1	3.4	-	-	-	4.2	12.3	26.0	.474	-	-	-	8.8	10.4	.840

Season 3
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	1981-82	1960-61
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers Lost West Div Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	75	16.4	11.1	0.7	0.7	1.4	1.5	0.5	0.1	1.2	1.3	4.4	9.2	.473	0.2	0.5	.293	2.2	2.8	.787
Elgin Baylor	73	42.9	34.8	-	-	19.8	5.1	-	-	-	3.8	12.8	29.7	.430	-	-	-	9.3	11.8	.783
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	12	45.0	38.1	-	-	15.3	4.6	-	-	-	3.7	14.2	30.2	.470	-	-	-	9.8	11.8	.824

Season 4
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	1982-83	1961-62
Team	Washington Bullets, Los Angeles Lakers	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers Lost NBA Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	19	16.0	6.5	0.6	0.4	1.0	0.7	0.7	0.2	0.6	1.0	2.9	7.6	.379	0.1	0.3	.400	0.6	1.2	.500
Elgin Baylor	48	44.4	38.3	-	-	18.6	4.6	-	-	-	3.2	14.2	33.1	.428	-	-	-	9.9	13.1	.754
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	13	43.9	38.6	-	-	17.7	3.6	-	-	-	3.5	14.3	32.7	.438	-	-	-	10.0	12.9	.774

Season 5
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	-	1962-63
Team	-	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Lakers Lost NBA Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	80	42.1	34.0	-	-	14.3	4.8	-	-	-	2.8	12.9	28.4	.453	-	-	-	8.3	9.9	.837
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	13	43.2	32.6	-	-	13.6	4.5	-	-	-	3.7	12.3	27.8	.442	-	-	-	8.0	9.7	.825

Season 6
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	-	1963-64
Team	-	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Lakers Lost West Div Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	78	40.6	25.4	-	-	12.0	4.4	-	-	-	3.0	9.7	22.8	.425	-	-	-	6.0	7.5	.804
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	5	44.2	24.2	-	-	11.6	5.6	-	-	-	3.4	9.0	23.8	.378	-	-	-	6.2	8.0	.775

Season 7
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	-	1964-65
Team	-	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Lakers Lost NBA Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	74	41.3	27.1	-	-	12.8	3.8	-	-	-	3.2	10.3	25.7	.401	-	-	-	6.5	8.2	.792
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	1	5.0	0.0	-	-	0	1.0	-	-	-	0.0	0.0	2.0	.000	-	-	-	0.0	0.0	-

Season 9
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	-	1966-67
Team	-	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Lakers Lost West Div Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	70	38.7	26.6	-	-	12.8	3.1	-	-	-	3.0	10.2	23.7	.429	-	-	-	6.3	7.7	.813
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	3	40.3	23.7	-	-	13.0	3.0	-	-	-	2.0	9.3	25.3	.368	-	-	-	5.0	6.7	.750

Season 10
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	-	1967-68
Team	-	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Lakers Lost NBA Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	77	39.3	26.0	-	-	12.2	4.6	-	-	-	3.0	9.8	22.2	.443	-	-	-	6.3	8.1	.786
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	15	42.2	28.5	-	-	14.5	4.0	-	-	-	2.7	11.7	25.1	.468	-	-	-	5.1	7.5	.679

Season 11
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	-	1968-69
Team	-	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Lakers Lost NBA Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	76	40.3	24.8	-	-	10.6	5.4	-	-	-	2.7	9.6	21.5	.447	-	-	-	5.5	7.5	.743
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	18	35.6	15.4	-	-	9.2	4.1	-	-	-	3.1	5.9	15.4	.385	-	-	-	3.5	5.6	.630

Season 12
	Billy Ray Bates	Elgin Baylor
Season	-	1969-70
Team	-	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Lakers Lost NBA Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	54	41.0	24.0	-	-	10.4	5.4	-	-	-	2.4	9.5	19.5	.486	-	-	-	5.1	6.6	.773
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	18	37.1	18.7	-	-	9.6	4.6	-	-	-	2.8	7.7	16.4	.466	-	-	-	3.3	4.5	.741