Dereck Lively II vs. Bill Russell Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Bill Russell and Dereck Lively II, 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.

Dereck Lively II played 2 years in the NBA, 11 less than Bill Russell, who played 13. Dereck Lively II had the first of his seasons in 2023-24, while Bill Russell had his rookie season in 1956-57. 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
	Dereck Lively II	Bill Russell
Season	2023-24	1956-57
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie Second Team	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost NBA Finals	NBA Champion

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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		%
Dereck Lively II	55	23.5	8.8	2.5	4.4	6.9	1.1	0.7	1.4	0.9	2.6	4.0	5.4	.747	0.0	0.0	-	0.7	1.5	.506
difference:	+7	+11.8	+5.9			+12.7	+0.7				-0.4	+1.8	+8.1	+.320				+2.5	+4.9	+.014
Bill Russell	48	35.3	14.7	-	-	19.6	1.8	-	-	-	3.0	5.8	13.5	.427	-	-	-	3.2	6.4	.492
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dereck Lively II	21	22.0	7.9	2.7	4.7	7.4	1.3	0.4	1.0	1.0	2.3	3.0	4.5	.674	0.0	0.0	-	1.7	2.9	.590
difference:	+11	+18.9	+6.0			+17.0	+1.9				-1.8	+2.4	+10.3	+.309				+1.4	+3.2	+.082
Bill Russell	10	40.9	13.9	-	-	24.4	3.2	-	-	-	4.1	5.4	14.8	.365	-	-	-	3.1	6.1	.508

Season 2
	Dereck Lively II	Bill Russell
Season	2024-25	1957-58
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Rebounds Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost NBA Finals

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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		%
Dereck Lively II	36	23.1	8.7	2.9	4.6	7.5	2.4	0.6	1.6	1.1	2.8	3.7	5.3	.702	0.0	0.0	-	1.3	2.0	.630
difference:	+33	+15.2	+7.9			+15.2	+0.5				-0.2	+2.9	+9.7	+.260				+2.0	+4.4	+.111
Bill Russell	69	38.3	16.6	-	-	22.7	2.9	-	-	-	2.6	6.6	15.0	.442	-	-	-	3.3	6.4	.519
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dereck Lively II	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bill Russell	9	39.4	15.1	-	-	24.6	2.7	-	-	-	2.7	5.3	14.8	.361	-	-	-	4.4	7.3	.606

Additional Years
* Bill Russell played 11 seasons more than Dereck Lively II in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 3 to 13, from 1959 to 1969—Bill Russell played in 11 Playoffs and won 10 NBA Championships. In those 11 extra years over Dereck Lively II, Bill Russell got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	4 Season MVP 3 All-NBA First Team 7 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive First Team 3 Rebounds Leader 11 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP