Deandre Ayton vs. Billy Cunningham Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Billy Cunningham and Deandre Ayton, 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.

Deandre Ayton played 6 years in the NBA, 3 less than Billy Cunningham, who played 9. Deandre Ayton had the first of his seasons in 2018-19, while Billy Cunningham had his rookie season in 1965-66. 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
	Deandre Ayton	Billy Cunningham
Season	2018-19	1965-66
Team	Phoenix Suns	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	76ers Lost East 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		%
Deandre Ayton	71	30.7	16.3	3.1	7.1	10.3	1.8	0.9	0.9	1.8	2.9	7.2	12.3	.585	0.0	0.1	.000	2.0	2.7	.746
Billy Cunningham	80	26.7	14.3	-	-	7.5	2.6	-	-	-	3.8	5.4	12.6	.426	-	-	-	3.5	5.5	.634
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	4	17.3	5.3	-	-	4.5	2.5	-	-	-	2.8	1.3	7.8	.161	-	-	-	2.8	3.3	.846

Season 2
	Deandre Ayton	Billy Cunningham
Season	2019-20	1966-67
Team	Phoenix Suns	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	38	32.5	18.2	3.9	7.6	11.5	1.9	0.7	1.5	2.1	3.1	8.2	14.9	.546	0.1	0.3	.231	1.8	2.3	.753
Billy Cunningham	81	26.8	18.5	-	-	7.3	2.5	-	-	-	3.2	6.9	15.0	.459	-	-	-	4.7	6.9	.686
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	15	22.6	15.0	-	-	6.2	2.2	-	-	-	3.5	5.5	14.7	.376	-	-	-	3.9	6.0	.656

Season 4
	Deandre Ayton	Billy Cunningham
Season	2021-22	1968-69
Team	Phoenix Suns	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Suns Lost West Conf Semis	76ers Lost East 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		%
Deandre Ayton	58	29.5	17.2	2.6	7.7	10.2	1.4	0.7	0.7	1.6	2.4	7.6	12.0	.634	0.1	0.3	.368	1.8	2.4	.746
Billy Cunningham	82	40.8	24.8	-	-	12.8	3.5	-	-	-	4.0	9.0	21.2	.426	-	-	-	6.8	9.2	.737
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	13	30.5	17.9	2.5	6.4	8.9	1.7	0.4	0.8	1.5	2.6	8.1	12.6	.640	0.2	0.3	.500	1.6	2.5	.636
Billy Cunningham	5	43.4	24.4	-	-	12.6	2.4	-	-	-	4.8	9.8	23.4	.419	-	-	-	4.8	7.6	.632

Season 5
	Deandre Ayton	Billy Cunningham
Season	2022-23	1969-70
Team	Phoenix Suns	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Suns Lost West Conf Semis	76ers Lost East 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		%
Deandre Ayton	67	30.4	18.0	2.6	7.4	10.0	1.7	0.6	0.8	1.8	2.8	7.8	13.2	.589	0.1	0.4	.292	2.3	3.0	.760
Billy Cunningham	81	39.4	26.1	-	-	13.6	4.3	-	-	-	4.1	9.9	21.1	.469	-	-	-	6.3	8.6	.729
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	10	31.9	13.4	2.9	6.8	9.7	1.0	0.6	0.7	1.7	3.5	6.1	11.1	.550	0.0	0.0	-	1.2	2.3	.522
Billy Cunningham	5	41.0	29.2	-	-	10.4	4.0	-	-	-	3.8	12.2	24.6	.496	-	-	-	4.8	7.2	.667

Season 6
	Deandre Ayton	Billy Cunningham
Season	2023-24	1970-71
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA 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		%
Deandre Ayton	55	32.4	16.7	3.2	7.9	11.1	1.6	1.0	0.8	1.8	2.0	7.8	13.6	.570	0.0	0.2	.100	1.2	1.4	.823
Billy Cunningham	81	38.1	23.0	-	-	11.7	4.9	-	-	-	4.0	8.7	18.8	.462	-	-	-	5.6	7.7	.734
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	7	43.0	25.9	-	-	15.4	5.7	-	-	-	4.0	9.6	20.3	.472	-	-	-	6.7	9.6	.701

Season 7
	Deandre Ayton	Billy Cunningham
Season	-	1971-72
Team	-	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	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		%
Deandre Ayton	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	75	38.7	23.3	-	-	12.2	5.9	-	-	-	3.9	8.8	19.0	.461	-	-	-	5.7	8.0	.712
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Billy Cunningham didn't play in 1972-73 and 1973-74.