Dereck Lively II vs. Bill Walton Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Bill Walton 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 3 years in the NBA, 7 less than Bill Walton, who played 10. Dereck Lively II had the first of his seasons in 2023-24, while Bill Walton had his rookie season in 1974-75. 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 Walton
Season	2023-24	1974-75
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Portland Trail Blazers
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie Second Team	-
Playoffs	Mavericks Lost NBA Finals	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		%
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:	+20	+9.4	+4.0	+0.1	+5.6	+5.7	+3.7	+0.1	+1.3		-0.7	+1.1	+4.5	+.234				+2.0	+2.4	+.180
Bill Walton	35	32.9	12.8	2.6	10.0	12.6	4.8	0.8	2.7	-	3.3	5.1	9.9	.513	-	-	-	2.7	3.9	.686
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
Bill Walton	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Dereck Lively II	Bill Walton
Season	2025-26	1976-77
Team	Dallas Mavericks	Portland Trail Blazers
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	Rebounds Leader
	-	Blocks Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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		%
Dereck Lively II	7	16.4	4.3	2.0	3.3	5.3	1.9	0.6	1.6	1.4	3.0	1.6	2.6	.611	0.0	0.0	-	1.1	1.4	.800
difference:	+58	+18.4	+14.3	+1.2	+7.8	+9.1	+1.9	+0.4	+1.6		-0.3	+6.0	+11.7	+.083				+2.4	+3.6	+.103
Bill Walton	65	34.8	18.6	3.2	11.1	14.4	3.8	1.0	3.2	-	2.7	7.6	14.3	.528	-	-	-	3.5	5.0	.697
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dereck Lively II	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bill Walton	19	39.7	18.2	2.9	12.2	15.2	5.5	1.1	3.4	-	4.2	8.1	15.9	.507	-	-	-	2.1	3.0	.684

Additional Years
* Bill Walton played 7 seasons more than Dereck Lively II in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 10, from 1978 to 1987—Bill Walton played in 3 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 7 extra years over Dereck Lively II, Bill Walton got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Season MVP 1 All-NBA First Team 1 All-Defensive First Team 1 Sixth Man of the Year 1 All-Star Game