Deandre Ayton vs. Kevin Garnett Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Kevin Garnett 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 7 years in the NBA, 14 less than Kevin Garnett, who played 21. Deandre Ayton had the first of his seasons in 2018-19, while Kevin Garnett had his rookie season in 1995-96. 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
	Deandre Ayton	Kevin Garnett
Season	2018-19	1995-96
Team	Phoenix Suns	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie Second 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		%
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
difference:	+9	+2.0	+5.9	+0.9	+3.0	+4.0		+0.2	+0.7	-0.4	-0.5	+2.7	+3.1	+.094	+0.1	+0.3	+.286	+0.7	+0.8	+.041
Kevin Garnett	80	28.7	10.4	2.2	4.1	6.3	1.8	1.1	1.6	1.4	2.4	4.5	9.2	.491	0.1	0.4	.286	1.3	1.9	.705
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Deandre Ayton nor Kevin Garnett played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Deandre Ayton	Kevin Garnett
Season	2019-20	1996-97
Team	Phoenix Suns	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
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
difference:	+39	+6.4	+1.2	+1.4	+2.0	+3.5	+1.2	+0.7	+0.6	-0.2	-0.5	+1.1	+0.6	+.047			+.055	+0.9	+1.2	+.001
Kevin Garnett	77	38.9	17.0	2.5	5.6	8.0	3.1	1.4	2.1	2.3	2.6	7.1	14.3	.499	0.1	0.3	.286	2.7	3.5	.754
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Garnett	3	41.7	17.3	4.7	4.7	9.3	3.7	1.3	1.0	1.3	2.0	8.0	17.0	.471	0.3	0.3	1.000	1.0	1.0	1.000

Season 3
	Deandre Ayton	Kevin Garnett
Season	2020-21	1997-98
Team	Phoenix Suns	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Suns Lost NBA Finals	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Deandre Ayton	69	30.7	14.4	3.3	7.2	10.5	1.4	0.6	1.2	1.5	2.8	6.2	10.0	.626	0.1	0.3	.200	1.9	2.5	.769
difference:	+13	+8.6	+4.1	+0.6	+0.3	+0.9	+2.8	+1.1	+0.6	-0.8	-0.1	+1.5	+5.8	+.135	+0.1	+0.1	+.012	+1.1	+1.5	+.031
Kevin Garnett	82	39.3	18.5	2.7	6.9	9.6	4.2	1.7	1.8	2.3	2.7	7.7	15.8	.491	0.0	0.2	.188	3.0	4.0	.738
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	22	36.4	15.8	3.0	8.8	11.8	1.1	0.8	1.1	1.3	2.9	7.0	10.6	.658	0.0	0.0	-	1.8	2.4	.736
difference:	+17	+2.2		+0.4	+2.6	+2.2	+2.9		+1.3	-3.1	-0.5	+0.2	+4.4	+.178				+0.4	+0.6	+.042
Kevin Garnett	5	38.6	15.8	3.4	6.2	9.6	4.0	0.8	2.4	4.4	3.4	7.2	15.0	.480	0.0	0.0	-	1.4	1.8	.778

Season 4
	Deandre Ayton	Kevin Garnett
Season	2021-22	1998-99
Team	Phoenix Suns	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
Playoffs	Suns Lost West Conf Semis	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
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
difference:	+11	+8.4	+3.6	+0.9	+0.8	+0.2	+2.9	+1.0	+1.1	-1.3	-0.8	+1.2	+7.1	+.174			+.082	+1.3	+2.0	+.042
Kevin Garnett	47	37.9	20.8	3.5	6.9	10.4	4.3	1.7	1.8	2.9	3.2	8.8	19.1	.460	0.1	0.3	.286	3.1	4.4	.704
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
difference:	+9	+12.0	+3.9	+1.5	+1.6	+3.1	+2.1	+1.4	+1.2	-1.8	-0.1	+0.7	+7.2	+.197	+0.2	+0.2	+.500	+2.7	+3.3	+.103
Kevin Garnett	4	42.5	21.8	4.0	8.0	12.0	3.8	1.8	2.0	3.3	2.5	8.8	19.8	.443	0.0	0.5	.000	4.3	5.8	.739

Season 5
	Deandre Ayton	Kevin Garnett
Season	2022-23	1999-00
Team	Phoenix Suns	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Suns Lost West Conf Semis	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
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
difference:	+14	+9.6	+4.9	+0.2	+1.6	+1.8	+3.3	+0.9	+0.8	-1.5	-0.3	+1.6	+5.6	+.092	+0.3	+0.6	+.078	+1.5	+2.0	+.005
Kevin Garnett	81	40.0	22.9	2.8	9.0	11.8	5.0	1.5	1.6	3.3	2.5	9.4	18.8	.497	0.4	1.0	.370	3.8	5.0	.765
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
difference:	+6	+10.6	+5.4	+0.4	+0.7	+1.1	+7.8	+0.7	+0.1	-1.1	-0.5	+1.4	+8.4	+.165	+0.5	+0.8		+2.1	+1.7	+.291
Kevin Garnett	4	42.5	18.8	3.3	7.5	10.8	8.8	1.3	0.8	2.8	3.0	7.5	19.5	.385	0.5	0.8	.667	3.3	4.0	.813

Season 6
	Deandre Ayton	Kevin Garnett
Season	2023-24	2000-01
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
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
difference:	+26	+7.1	+5.3	+0.5	+0.8	+0.3	+3.4	+0.4	+1.0	-1.0	-0.5	+0.9	+4.6	+.093	+0.2	+0.6	+.188	+3.2	+4.4	+.059
Kevin Garnett	81	39.5	22.0	2.7	8.7	11.4	5.0	1.4	1.8	2.8	2.5	8.7	18.2	.477	0.2	0.8	.288	4.4	5.8	.764
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Garnett	4	41.3	21.0	2.5	9.5	12.0	4.3	1.0	1.5	1.5	3.3	6.8	14.5	.466	0.0	0.8	.000	7.5	9.0	.833

Season 7
	Deandre Ayton	Kevin Garnett
Season	2024-25	2001-02
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Deandre Ayton	40	30.2	14.4	3.1	7.1	10.2	1.6	0.8	1.0	1.7	2.2	6.6	11.7	.566	0.2	0.8	.188	1.0	1.5	.667
difference:	+41	+9.0	+6.8	+0.1	+2.0	+1.9	+3.6	+0.4	+0.6	-1.1	-0.1	+1.5	+5.6	+.096	+0.3	+0.6	+.131	+3.4	+4.0	+.134
Kevin Garnett	81	39.2	21.2	3.0	9.1	12.1	5.2	1.2	1.6	2.8	2.3	8.1	17.3	.470	0.5	1.4	.319	4.4	5.5	.801
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Deandre Ayton	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Garnett	3	43.3	24.0	5.3	13.3	18.7	5.0	1.7	1.7	4.0	3.7	8.0	18.7	.429	0.3	0.7	.500	7.7	10.7	.719

Additional Years
* Kevin Garnett played 14 seasons more than Deandre Ayton in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 8 to 21, from 2003 to 2016—Kevin Garnett played in 8 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 14 extra years over Deandre Ayton, Kevin Garnett got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Season MVP 3 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 6 All-Defensive First Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Defensive Player of the Year 4 Rebounds Leader 10 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP