Damian Lillard vs. Lauri Markkanen Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Lauri Markkanen and Damian Lillard, 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.

Damian Lillard played 13 years in the NBA, 5 more than Lauri Markkanen, who played 8. Damian Lillard had the first of his seasons in 2012-13, while Lauri Markkanen 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
	Damian Lillard	Lauri Markkanen
Season	2012-13	2017-18
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Damian Lillard	82	38.6	19.0	0.5	2.6	3.1	6.5	0.9	0.2	3.0	2.1	6.7	15.7	.429	2.3	6.1	.368	3.3	3.9	.844
difference:	+14	+8.9	+3.8	+0.7	+3.7	+4.4	+5.3	+0.3	+0.4	-1.8	-0.6	+1.2	+3.0	+.005	+0.2	+0.2	+.006	+1.2	+1.5	+.001
Lauri Markkanen	68	29.7	15.2	1.2	6.3	7.5	1.2	0.6	0.6	1.2	1.5	5.5	12.7	.434	2.1	5.9	.362	2.1	2.4	.843
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Damian Lillard nor Lauri Markkanen played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Damian Lillard	Lauri Markkanen
Season	2013-14	2018-19
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf Semis	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		%
Damian Lillard	82	35.8	20.7	0.4	3.1	3.5	5.6	0.8	0.3	2.4	2.4	6.7	15.9	.424	2.7	6.8	.394	4.5	5.2	.871
difference:	+30	+3.5	+2.0	+1.0	+4.5	+5.5	+4.2	+0.1	+0.3	-0.8	-0.1	+0.1	+0.6	+.006	+0.4	+0.4	+.033	+1.2	+1.4	+.001
Lauri Markkanen	52	32.3	18.7	1.4	7.6	9.0	1.4	0.7	0.6	1.6	2.3	6.6	15.3	.430	2.3	6.4	.361	3.3	3.8	.872
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Damian Lillard	11	42.4	22.9	1.1	4.0	5.1	6.5	1.0	0.1	2.7	2.6	7.5	17.2	.439	2.5	6.4	.386	5.4	6.0	.894
Lauri Markkanen	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Damian Lillard	Lauri Markkanen
Season	2014-15	2019-20
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Trail Blazers 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		%
Damian Lillard	82	35.7	21.0	0.6	4.0	4.6	6.2	1.2	0.3	2.7	2.0	7.2	16.6	.434	2.4	7.0	.343	4.2	4.9	.864
difference:	+32	+5.9	+6.3	+0.6	+1.1	+1.7	+4.7	+0.4	+0.2	-1.1	-0.1	+2.2	+4.8	+.009	+0.2	+0.7	+.001	+1.7	+1.8	+.040
Lauri Markkanen	50	29.8	14.7	1.2	5.1	6.3	1.5	0.8	0.5	1.6	1.9	5.0	11.8	.425	2.2	6.3	.344	2.5	3.1	.824
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Damian Lillard	5	40.2	21.6	0.4	3.6	4.0	4.6	0.4	0.6	2.4	3.0	7.8	19.2	.406	1.0	6.2	.161	5.0	6.4	.781
Lauri Markkanen	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Damian Lillard	Lauri Markkanen
Season	2015-16	2020-21
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
Playoffs	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf Semis	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		%
Damian Lillard	75	35.7	25.1	0.6	3.4	4.0	6.8	0.9	0.4	3.2	2.2	8.2	19.7	.419	3.1	8.1	.375	5.5	6.2	.892
difference:	+24	+9.9	+11.5	+0.1	+1.2	+1.3	+5.9	+0.4	+0.1	-2.2	-0.7	+3.3	+9.5	+.061	+0.8	+2.3	+.027	+4.0	+4.4	+.066
Lauri Markkanen	51	25.8	13.6	0.7	4.6	5.3	0.9	0.5	0.3	1.0	1.5	4.9	10.2	.480	2.3	5.8	.402	1.5	1.8	.826
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Damian Lillard	11	39.7	26.5	1.1	3.2	4.3	6.3	1.3	0.3	3.0	2.1	8.1	22.0	.368	3.8	9.7	.393	6.5	7.1	.910
Lauri Markkanen	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	Damian Lillard	Lauri Markkanen
Season	2017-18	2022-23
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	Most Improved Player
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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6th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Damian Lillard	73	36.6	26.9	0.8	3.6	4.5	6.6	1.1	0.4	2.8	1.6	8.5	19.4	.439	3.1	8.6	.361	6.8	7.4	.916
difference:	+7	+2.2	+1.3	+1.2	+3.1	+4.1	+4.7	+0.5	+0.2	-0.9	-0.5	+0.2	+2.1	+.060	+0.1	+0.9	+.030	+1.5	+1.4	+.041
Lauri Markkanen	66	34.4	25.6	2.0	6.7	8.6	1.9	0.6	0.6	1.9	2.1	8.7	17.3	.499	3.0	7.7	.391	5.3	6.0	.875
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Damian Lillard	4	40.5	18.5	0.8	3.8	4.5	4.8	1.3	0.0	4.0	2.0	6.3	17.8	.352	2.3	7.5	.300	3.8	4.3	.882
Lauri Markkanen	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 7
	Damian Lillard	Lauri Markkanen
Season	2018-19	2023-24
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf Finals	Did Not Play

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7th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Damian Lillard	80	35.5	25.8	0.9	3.8	4.6	6.9	1.1	0.4	2.7	1.9	8.5	19.2	.444	3.0	8.0	.369	5.9	6.4	.912
difference:	+25	+2.4	+2.6	+1.3	+2.1	+3.6	+4.9	+0.2	+0.1	-1.3	-0.1	+0.7	+3.0	+.036	+0.2		+.030	+1.4	+1.4	+.013
Lauri Markkanen	55	33.1	23.2	2.2	5.9	8.2	2.0	0.9	0.5	1.4	1.8	7.8	16.2	.480	3.2	8.0	.399	4.5	5.0	.899
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Damian Lillard	16	40.6	26.9	0.5	4.3	4.8	6.6	1.7	0.3	3.8	2.5	8.6	20.6	.418	3.7	9.9	.373	5.9	7.1	.833
Lauri Markkanen	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 8
	Damian Lillard	Lauri Markkanen
Season	2019-20	2024-25
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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8th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Damian Lillard	66	37.5	30.0	0.5	3.8	4.3	8.0	1.1	0.3	2.9	1.7	9.5	20.4	.463	4.1	10.2	.401	7.0	7.8	.888
difference:	+19	+6.1	+11.0	+1.0	+0.6	+1.6	+6.5	+0.4	+0.1	-1.5		+3.2	+5.5	+.040	+1.2	+1.7	+.055	+3.6	+3.9	+.012
Lauri Markkanen	47	31.4	19.0	1.5	4.4	5.9	1.5	0.7	0.4	1.4	1.7	6.3	14.9	.423	2.9	8.5	.346	3.4	3.9	.876
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Damian Lillard	4	35.8	24.3	0.3	3.3	3.5	4.3	0.5	0.3	3.5	1.0	6.5	16.0	.406	3.3	8.3	.394	8.0	8.3	.970
Lauri Markkanen	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Damian Lillard played 5 seasons more than Lauri Markkanen in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 9 to 13, from 2021 to 2025—Damian Lillard played in 3 Playoffs and one NBA Cup. In those 5 extra years over Lauri Markkanen, Damian Lillard got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 1 Cup All-Tournament Team 4 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP