Daniel Gafford vs. Elvin Hayes Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Elvin Hayes and Daniel Gafford, 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.

Daniel Gafford played 6 years in the NBA, 10 less than Elvin Hayes, who played 16. Daniel Gafford had the first of his seasons in 2019-20, while Elvin Hayes had his rookie season in 1968-69. 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
	Daniel Gafford	Elvin Hayes
Season	2019-20	1968-69
Team	Chicago Bulls	San Diego Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Rockets Lost West Div Semis

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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		%
Daniel Gafford	43	14.2	5.1	1.2	1.3	2.5	0.5	0.3	1.3	0.7	2.3	2.2	3.1	.701	0.0	0.0	-	0.7	1.4	.533
difference:	+39	+30.9	+23.3			+14.6	+0.9				-0.9	+9.1	+22.3	+.254				+5.0	+7.7	+.093
Elvin Hayes	82	45.1	28.4	-	-	17.1	1.4	-	-	-	3.2	11.3	25.4	.447	-	-	-	5.7	9.1	.626
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Daniel Gafford	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elvin Hayes	6	46.3	25.8	-	-	13.8	0.8	-	-	-	3.5	10.0	19.0	.526	-	-	-	5.8	8.8	.660

Season 2
	Daniel Gafford	Elvin Hayes
Season	2020-21	1969-70
Team	Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards	San Diego Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	Rebounds Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Wizards Lost East Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Daniel Gafford	54	14.6	7.0	1.7	2.5	4.3	0.5	0.5	1.4	0.8	1.8	2.9	4.2	.684	0.0	0.0	-	1.3	2.0	.667
difference:	+28	+30.1	+20.5			+12.6	+1.5				-1.5	+8.2	+20.4	+.232				+3.9	+5.6	+.021
Elvin Hayes	82	44.7	27.5	-	-	16.9	2.0	-	-	-	3.3	11.1	24.6	.452	-	-	-	5.2	7.6	.688
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Daniel Gafford	5	23.4	11.8	2.8	3.0	5.8	0.6	1.0	2.0	0.6	3.4	4.4	5.2	.846	0.0	0.0	-	3.0	4.8	.625
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Daniel Gafford	Elvin Hayes
Season	2021-22	1970-71
Team	Washington Wizards	San Diego Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Daniel Gafford	72	20.1	9.4	2.2	3.5	5.7	0.9	0.4	1.4	0.9	2.4	4.0	5.7	.693	0.0	0.0	-	1.5	2.1	.699
difference:	+10	+24.2	+19.3			+10.9	+1.4				-0.3	+7.6	+21.3	+.265				+4.0	+6.1	+.027
Elvin Hayes	82	44.3	28.7	-	-	16.6	2.3	-	-	-	2.7	11.6	27.0	.428	-	-	-	5.5	8.2	.672
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Daniel Gafford nor Elvin Hayes played in the postseason in their season 3

Season 4
	Daniel Gafford	Elvin Hayes
Season	2022-23	1971-72
Team	Washington Wizards	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Daniel Gafford	78	20.6	9.0	2.1	3.5	5.6	1.1	0.4	1.3	1.1	2.4	3.7	5.1	.732	0.0	0.0	-	1.6	2.4	.679
difference:	+4	+21.6	+16.2			+9.0	+2.2				-0.4	+6.4	+18.3	+.298				+3.3	+5.1	+.030
Elvin Hayes	82	42.2	25.2	-	-	14.6	3.3	-	-	-	2.8	10.1	23.4	.434	-	-	-	4.9	7.5	.649
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Daniel Gafford nor Elvin Hayes played in the postseason in their season 4

Season 5
	Daniel Gafford	Elvin Hayes
Season	2023-24	1972-73
Team	Washington Wizards, Dallas Mavericks	Baltimore Bullets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost NBA Finals	Bullets Lost East Conf Semis

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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		%
Daniel Gafford	74	24.5	11.0	2.6	5.0	7.6	1.6	0.9	2.1	1.0	3.1	4.7	6.5	.725	0.0	0.0	-	1.6	2.4	.674
difference:	+7	+16.8	+10.2			+6.9					-0.2	+4.1	+13.3	+.281				+2.0	+3.0	+.003
Elvin Hayes	81	41.3	21.2	-	-	14.5	1.6	-	-	-	2.9	8.8	19.8	.444	-	-	-	3.6	5.4	.671
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Daniel Gafford	22	20.2	9.0	1.9	3.6	5.5	0.7	0.3	1.5	0.9	1.7	3.5	5.6	.634	0.0	0.0	-	1.9	3.0	.631
difference:	+17	+25.4	+16.8			+5.9	+0.3				-1.5	+7.1	+15.4	+.129				+2.7	+3.6	+.066
Elvin Hayes	5	45.6	25.8	-	-	11.4	1.0	-	-	-	3.2	10.6	21.0	.505	-	-	-	4.6	6.6	.697

Season 6
	Daniel Gafford	Elvin Hayes
Season	2024-25	1973-74
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Capital Bullets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	Rebounds Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Bullets Lost East Conf Semis

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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		%
Daniel Gafford	57	21.5	12.3	2.7	4.1	6.8	1.4	0.4	1.8	1.2	2.7	5.0	7.1	.702	0.0	0.0	-	2.4	3.4	.689
difference:	+24	+23.0	+9.1	+1.7	+9.6	+11.3	+0.6	+0.7	+1.2		-0.4	+3.5	+13.0	+.279				+2.0	+2.7	+.032
Elvin Hayes	81	44.5	21.4	4.4	13.7	18.1	2.0	1.1	3.0	-	3.1	8.5	20.1	.423	-	-	-	4.4	6.1	.721
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Daniel Gafford	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elvin Hayes	7	46.1	25.9	4.4	11.4	15.9	3.0	0.7	2.1	-	3.3	10.9	20.4	.531	-	-	-	4.1	5.9	.707

Additional Years
* Elvin Hayes played 10 seasons more than Daniel Gafford in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 16, from 1975 to 1984—Elvin Hayes played in 7 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 10 extra years over Daniel Gafford, Elvin Hayes got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive Second Team 6 All-Star Game