Dan Issel vs. Ben Simmons Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Ben Simmons and Dan Issel, 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.

Dan Issel played 9 years in the NBA, 3 more than Ben Simmons, who played 6. Dan Issel had the first of his seasons in 1976-77, while Ben Simmons 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 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
Rookie Season
	Dan Issel	Ben Simmons
Season	1976-77	2017-18
Team	Denver Nuggets	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	Rookie of the Year
	-	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Nuggets Lost West Conf Semis	76ers Lost East Conf 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		%
Dan Issel	79	31.7	22.3	2.7	6.1	8.8	2.2	1.2	0.4	-	3.1	8.4	16.2	.515	-	-	-	5.6	7.1	.797
Ben Simmons	81	33.7	15.8	1.8	6.3	8.1	8.2	1.7	0.9	3.4	2.6	6.7	12.3	.545	0.0	0.1	.000	2.4	4.2	.560
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dan Issel	6	37.0	22.0	3.0	6.7	9.7	2.8	0.8	0.7	-	3.3	8.2	16.0	.510	-	-	-	5.7	7.5	.756
Ben Simmons	10	36.9	16.3	1.6	7.8	9.4	7.7	1.7	0.8	4.4	3.4	6.1	12.5	.488	0.0	0.1	.000	4.1	5.8	.707

Season 2
	Dan Issel	Ben Simmons
Season	1977-78	2018-19
Team	Denver Nuggets	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Nuggets Lost West Conf Finals	76ers Lost East Conf 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		%
Dan Issel	82	34.8	21.3	3.1	7.0	10.1	3.7	1.2	0.5	3.2	3.4	8.0	15.7	.512	-	-	-	5.2	6.7	.782
Ben Simmons	79	34.2	16.9	2.2	6.6	8.8	7.7	1.4	0.8	3.5	2.6	6.8	12.2	.563	0.0	0.1	.000	3.3	5.4	.600
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dan Issel	13	35.4	20.2	3.2	7.2	10.3	4.1	0.5	0.2	3.0	3.3	7.9	16.3	.486	-	-	-	4.3	5.0	.862
Ben Simmons	12	35.1	13.9	1.9	5.1	7.0	6.0	1.3	1.0	2.7	3.8	6.0	9.7	.621	0.0	0.0	-	1.9	3.3	.575

Season 3
	Dan Issel	Ben Simmons
Season	1978-79	2019-20
Team	Denver Nuggets	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	Steals Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Nuggets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dan Issel	81	33.9	17.0	3.0	6.1	9.1	3.1	0.8	0.6	2.1	2.9	6.6	12.7	.517	-	-	-	3.9	5.2	.754
Ben Simmons	57	35.4	16.4	2.0	5.8	7.8	8.0	2.1	0.6	3.5	3.3	6.6	11.4	.580	0.0	0.1	.286	3.2	5.2	.621
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dan Issel	3	36.3	24.3	2.3	7.0	9.3	3.3	0.0	0.0	3.0	5.0	8.0	15.0	.533	-	-	-	8.3	10.3	.806
Ben Simmons	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Dan Issel	Ben Simmons
Season	1979-80	2020-21
Team	Denver Nuggets	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	76ers Lost East Conf 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		%
Dan Issel	82	35.8	23.8	2.9	5.9	8.8	2.4	1.1	0.7	2.0	2.3	8.7	17.3	.505	0.0	0.1	.333	6.3	8.1	.775
Ben Simmons	58	32.4	14.3	1.6	5.6	7.2	6.9	1.6	0.6	3.0	2.9	5.6	10.1	.557	0.1	0.2	.300	3.0	4.9	.613
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dan Issel	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ben Simmons	12	33.5	11.9	2.1	5.8	7.9	8.8	1.3	0.8	2.3	3.3	4.9	7.9	.621	0.0	0.1	.000	2.1	6.1	.342

Note: Ben Simmons didn't play in 2021-22.