Desmond Bane vs. Dave Cowens Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Dave Cowens and Desmond Bane, 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.

Desmond Bane played 5 years in the NBA, 6 less than Dave Cowens, who played 11. Desmond Bane had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Dave Cowens had his rookie season in 1970-71. 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
	Desmond Bane	Dave Cowens
Season	2020-21	1970-71
Team	Memphis Grizzlies	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	Rookie of the Year
	-	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Rookie Second Team	-
Playoffs	Grizzlies Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Desmond Bane	68	22.3	9.2	0.5	2.6	3.1	1.7	0.6	0.2	0.9	1.8	3.4	7.3	.469	1.7	4.0	.432	0.6	0.7	.816
difference:	+13	+15.7	+7.8			+11.9	+1.1				-2.5	+3.4	+8.8	+.047				+2.8	+3.9	+.084
Dave Cowens	81	38.0	17.0	-	-	15.0	2.8	-	-	-	4.3	6.8	16.1	.422	-	-	-	3.4	4.6	.732
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Desmond Bane	5	19.8	5.6	0.4	3.0	3.4	2.0	0.8	0.4	0.6	1.2	2.2	3.8	.579	1.2	2.4	.500	0.0	0.0	-
Dave Cowens	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Desmond Bane	Dave Cowens
Season	2021-22	1971-72
Team	Memphis Grizzlies	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Grizzlies Lost West Conf Semis	Celtics Lost East Conf 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		%
Desmond Bane	76	29.8	18.2	0.6	3.8	4.4	2.7	1.2	0.4	1.5	2.6	6.7	14.5	.461	3.0	6.9	.436	1.8	2.0	.903
difference:	+3	+10.5	+0.6			+10.8	+0.4				-1.4	+1.6	+2.7	+.023				+0.4	+1.1	+.183
Dave Cowens	79	40.3	18.8	-	-	15.2	3.1	-	-	-	4.0	8.3	17.2	.484	-	-	-	2.2	3.1	.720
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Desmond Bane	12	35.7	18.8	0.4	3.3	3.8	2.2	0.9	0.8	1.3	1.9	6.3	13.3	.478	3.6	7.3	.489	2.5	2.9	.857
difference:	+1	+4.4	+3.3			+10.0	+0.8				-2.6	+0.2	+0.9	+.023					+1.4	+.261
Dave Cowens	11	40.1	15.5	-	-	13.8	3.0	-	-	-	4.5	6.5	14.2	.455	-	-	-	2.5	4.3	.596

Season 3
	Desmond Bane	Dave Cowens
Season	2022-23	1972-73
Team	Memphis Grizzlies	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Grizzlies Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals

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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		%
Desmond Bane	58	31.8	21.5	0.7	4.3	5.0	4.4	1.0	0.4	2.2	2.6	7.8	16.2	.479	2.9	7.0	.408	3.1	3.5	.883
difference:	+24	+10.0	+1.0			+11.2	+0.3				-1.2	+1.2	+3.8	+.027				+0.6	+0.3	+.104
Dave Cowens	82	41.8	20.5	-	-	16.2	4.1	-	-	-	3.8	9.0	20.0	.452	-	-	-	2.5	3.2	.779
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Desmond Bane	6	38.5	23.5	1.2	4.8	6.0	3.2	0.5	0.0	2.8	3.2	8.2	19.3	.422	2.7	8.3	.320	4.5	4.8	.931
difference:	+7	+7.5	+1.6			+10.6	+0.5				-1.0	+1.7	+1.7	+.051				+2.4	+1.6	+.272
Dave Cowens	13	46.0	21.9	-	-	16.6	3.7	-	-	-	4.2	9.9	21.0	.473	-	-	-	2.1	3.2	.659

Season 4
	Desmond Bane	Dave Cowens
Season	2023-24	1973-74
Team	Memphis Grizzlies	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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		%
Desmond Bane	42	34.4	23.7	0.9	3.5	4.4	5.5	1.0	0.5	2.7	2.9	8.6	18.5	.464	3.3	8.6	.381	3.3	3.8	.870
difference:	+38	+7.5	+4.7	+2.4	+8.9	+11.3	+1.1	+0.2	+0.8		-0.8	+0.5	+0.1	+.027				+0.4	+0.4	+.038
Dave Cowens	80	41.9	19.0	3.3	12.4	15.7	4.4	1.2	1.3	-	3.7	8.1	18.4	.437	-	-	-	2.9	3.4	.832
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Desmond Bane	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dave Cowens	18	42.9	20.5	3.3	10.0	13.3	3.7	1.2	0.9	-	4.7	8.9	20.6	.435	-	-	-	2.6	3.3	.797

Season 5
	Desmond Bane	Dave Cowens
Season	2024-25	1974-75
Team	Memphis Grizzlies	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Grizzlies Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals

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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		%
Desmond Bane	69	32.0	19.2	0.9	5.2	6.1	5.3	1.2	0.4	2.4	2.4	7.1	14.8	.484	2.4	6.1	.392	2.6	2.9	.894
difference:	+4	+8.5	+1.2	+2.6	+6.0	+8.6	+0.7	+0.1	+0.7		-1.3	+1.7	+3.6	+.009				+0.3	+0.9	+.111
Dave Cowens	65	40.5	20.4	3.5	11.2	14.7	4.6	1.3	1.1	-	3.7	8.8	18.4	.475	-	-	-	2.9	3.8	.783
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Desmond Bane	4	34.8	15.3	1.3	5.5	6.8	3.3	0.8	0.5	3.8	2.3	5.0	15.8	.317	1.8	8.0	.219	3.5	3.8	.933
difference:	+7	+8.7	+5.2	+3.2	+6.5	+9.7	+0.9	+0.8			-2.2	+4.2	+5.7	+.111				+1.4	+1.4	+.048
Dave Cowens	11	43.5	20.5	4.5	12.0	16.5	4.2	1.6	0.5	-	4.5	9.2	21.5	.428	-	-	-	2.1	2.4	.885

Additional Years
* Dave Cowens played 6 seasons more than Desmond Bane in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 11, from 1976 to 1983—Dave Cowens played in 3 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 6 extra years over Desmond Bane, Dave Cowens got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive First Team 1 All-Defensive Second Team 4 All-Star Game