Dave DeBusschere vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dave DeBusschere, 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.

Dave DeBusschere played 12 years in the NBA, 5 more than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who played 7. Dave DeBusschere had the first of his seasons in 1962-63, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his rookie season in 2018-19. 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
	Dave DeBusschere	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1962-63	2018-19
Team	Detroit Pistons	Los Angeles Clippers
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Pistons Lost West Div Semis	Clippers Lost West Conf 1st Rd

more >>

Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave DeBusschere	80	29.4	12.7	-	-	8.7	2.6	-	-	-	3.1	5.1	11.8	.430	-	-	-	2.6	3.6	.718
difference:	+2	+2.9	+1.9			+5.9	+0.7				-1.0	+0.9	+3.1	+.046				+0.7	+1.2	+.082
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	82	26.5	10.8	0.7	2.1	2.8	3.3	1.2	0.5	1.7	2.1	4.2	8.7	.476	0.6	1.7	.367	1.9	2.4	.800
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave DeBusschere	4	39.8	20.0	-	-	15.8	1.5	-	-	-	3.5	6.3	14.8	.424	-	-	-	7.5	11.0	.682
difference:	+2	+11.0	+6.3			+13.1	+1.7				-0.7	+1.6	+4.8	+.043				+4.7	+7.7	+.168
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	6	28.8	13.7	0.7	2.0	2.7	3.2	1.0	0.8	0.8	2.8	4.7	10.0	.467	1.5	3.0	.500	2.8	3.3	.850

Season 4
	Dave DeBusschere	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1965-66	2021-22
Team	Detroit Pistons	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

4th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave DeBusschere	79	34.1	16.4	-	-	11.6	2.6	-	-	-	3.2	6.6	16.3	.408	-	-	-	3.2	4.8	.659
difference:	+23	+0.6	+8.1			+6.6	+3.3				-0.7	+1.9	+2.5	+.045				+2.7	+2.4	+.151
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	56	34.7	24.5	0.7	4.3	5.0	5.9	1.3	0.8	2.8	2.5	8.5	18.8	.453	1.6	5.3	.300	5.9	7.2	.810
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Dave DeBusschere nor Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played in the postseason in their season 4

Season 5
	Dave DeBusschere	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1966-67	2022-23
Team	Detroit Pistons	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave DeBusschere	78	37.1	18.2	-	-	11.8	2.8	-	-	-	3.8	6.8	16.4	.415	-	-	-	4.6	6.6	.705
difference:	+10	+1.6	+13.2			+7.0	+2.7				-1.0	+3.6	+3.9	+.095				+5.2	+4.3	+.200
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	68	35.5	31.4	0.9	4.0	4.8	5.5	1.6	1.0	2.8	2.8	10.4	20.3	.510	0.9	2.5	.345	9.8	10.9	.905
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Dave DeBusschere nor Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played in the postseason in their season 5

Season 6
	Dave DeBusschere	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1967-68	2023-24
Team	Detroit Pistons	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Steals Leader
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Pistons Lost East Div Semis	Thunder Lost West Conf Semis

more >>

6th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave DeBusschere	80	39.1	17.9	-	-	13.5	2.3	-	-	-	3.8	7.2	16.2	.442	-	-	-	3.6	5.4	.664
difference:	+5	+5.1	+12.2			+8.0	+3.9				-1.3	+3.4	+3.6	+.093				+4.0	+3.3	+.210
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	75	34.0	30.1	0.9	4.7	5.5	6.2	2.0	0.9	2.2	2.5	10.6	19.8	.535	1.3	3.6	.353	7.6	8.7	.874
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave DeBusschere	6	43.8	19.3	-	-	16.2	2.2	-	-	-	3.8	7.5	17.7	.425	-	-	-	4.3	7.5	.578
difference:	+4	+3.9	+10.9			+9.0	+4.2				-0.7	+3.6	+4.7	+.071				+2.1	+0.6	+.212
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	10	39.9	30.2	0.8	6.4	7.2	6.4	1.3	1.7	2.2	3.1	11.1	22.4	.496	1.6	3.7	.432	6.4	8.1	.790

Season 7
	Dave DeBusschere	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Season	1968-69	2024-25
Team	Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	Cup All-Tournament Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Knicks Lost East Div Finals	NBA Champion

more >>

7th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave DeBusschere	76	38.7	16.3	-	-	11.7	2.5	-	-	-	3.8	6.7	15.0	.444	-	-	-	3.0	4.3	.698
difference:		+4.5	+16.4			+6.7	+3.9				-1.6	+4.6	+6.8	+.075				+4.9	+4.5	+.200
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	76	34.2	32.7	0.9	4.1	5.0	6.4	1.7	1.0	2.4	2.2	11.3	21.8	.519	2.1	5.7	.375	7.9	8.8	.898
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dave DeBusschere	10	41.9	16.3	-	-	14.8	3.3	-	-	-	4.3	6.1	17.4	.351	-	-	-	4.1	5.0	.820
difference:	+13	+4.9	+13.6			+9.5	+3.2				-1.5	+4.0	+4.5	+.111				+4.2	+4.4	+.056
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	23	37.0	29.9	1.0	4.3	5.3	6.5	1.7	0.9	2.6	2.8	10.1	21.9	.462	1.4	4.9	.283	8.3	9.4	.876

Additional Years
* Dave DeBusschere played 5 seasons more than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 8 to 12, from 1970 to 1974—Dave DeBusschere played in 5 Playoffs and won two NBA Championships. In those 5 extra years over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dave DeBusschere got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	5 All-Defensive First Team 5 All-Star Game