Dikembe Mutombo vs. Zion Williamson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Zion Williamson and Dikembe Mutombo, 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.

Dikembe Mutombo played 18 years in the NBA, 12 more than Zion Williamson, who played 6. Dikembe Mutombo had the first of his seasons in 1991-92, while Zion Williamson had his rookie season in 2019-20. 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
	Dikembe Mutombo	Zion Williamson
Season	1991-92	2019-20
Team	Denver Nuggets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Star Game	-
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		%
Dikembe Mutombo	71	38.3	16.6	4.5	7.8	12.3	2.2	0.6	3.0	3.5	3.8	6.0	12.2	.493	0.0	0.0	-	4.5	7.0	.642
difference:	+47	+10.5	+5.9	+1.8	+4.2	+6.0	+0.1	+0.1	+2.6	-1.0	-2.0	+2.8	+2.8	+.090	+0.3	+0.6		+0.3	+0.4	+.002
Zion Williamson	24	27.8	22.5	2.7	3.6	6.3	2.1	0.7	0.4	2.5	1.8	8.8	15.0	.583	0.3	0.6	.429	4.8	7.4	.640
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Dikembe Mutombo nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Dikembe Mutombo	Zion Williamson
Season	1992-93	2020-21
Team	Denver Nuggets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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		%
Dikembe Mutombo	82	36.9	13.8	4.2	8.9	13.0	1.8	0.5	3.5	2.6	3.5	4.9	9.5	.510	0.0	0.0	-	4.1	6.0	.681
difference:	+21	+3.7	+13.2	+1.5	+4.4	+5.8	+1.9	+0.4	+2.9	-0.1	-1.3	+5.5	+7.5	+.101	+0.2	+0.6		+1.9	+2.7	+.017
Zion Williamson	61	33.2	27.0	2.7	4.5	7.2	3.7	0.9	0.6	2.7	2.2	10.4	17.0	.611	0.2	0.6	.294	6.0	8.7	.698
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Dikembe Mutombo nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 2

Note: Zion Williamson didn't play in 2021-22.

Season 3
	Dikembe Mutombo	Zion Williamson
Season	1993-94	2022-23
Team	Denver Nuggets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	Blocks Leader	-
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Nuggets Lost West Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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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		%
Dikembe Mutombo	82	34.8	12.0	3.5	8.4	11.8	1.5	0.7	4.1	2.5	3.2	4.5	7.8	.569	0.0	0.0	-	3.1	5.4	.583
difference:	+53	+1.8	+14.0	+1.5	+3.4	+4.8	+3.1	+0.4	+3.5	-0.9	-1.0	+5.3	+8.4	+.039	+0.2	+0.7		+3.0	+3.2	+.131
Zion Williamson	29	33.0	26.0	2.0	5.0	7.0	4.6	1.1	0.6	3.4	2.2	9.8	16.2	.608	0.2	0.7	.368	6.1	8.6	.714
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dikembe Mutombo	12	42.6	13.3	3.3	8.7	12.0	1.8	0.7	5.8	2.5	3.5	4.2	9.0	.463	0.0	0.0	-	4.9	8.2	.602
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Dikembe Mutombo	Zion Williamson
Season	1994-95	2023-24
Team	Denver Nuggets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	Defensive Player of the Year	-
	Blocks Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Nuggets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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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		%
Dikembe Mutombo	82	37.8	11.5	3.9	8.7	12.5	1.4	0.5	3.9	2.3	3.5	4.3	7.7	.556	0.0	0.0	-	3.0	4.6	.654
difference:	+12	+6.3	+11.4	+2.2	+4.6	+6.7	+3.6	+0.6	+3.2	-0.5	-1.2	+4.6	+7.9	+.014	+0.1	+0.3		+2.0	+2.5	+.048
Zion Williamson	70	31.5	22.9	1.7	4.1	5.8	5.0	1.1	0.7	2.8	2.3	8.9	15.6	.570	0.1	0.3	.333	5.0	7.1	.702
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dikembe Mutombo	3	28.0	6.0	1.3	5.0	6.3	0.3	0.0	2.3	2.3	5.0	2.0	3.3	.600	0.0	0.0	-	2.0	3.0	.667
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Dikembe Mutombo	Zion Williamson
Season	1995-96	2024-25
Team	Denver Nuggets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	Blocks Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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		%
Dikembe Mutombo	74	36.7	11.0	3.4	8.4	11.8	1.5	0.5	4.5	2.0	3.5	3.8	7.7	.499	0.0	0.0	-	3.3	4.8	.695
difference:	+44	+8.1	+13.6	+0.9	+3.7	+4.6	+3.8	+0.7	+3.6	-1.0	-0.8	+5.8	+9.2	+.068	+0.1	+0.4		+2.0	+3.2	+.039
Zion Williamson	30	28.6	24.6	2.5	4.7	7.2	5.3	1.2	0.9	3.0	2.7	9.6	16.9	.567	0.1	0.4	.231	5.3	8.0	.656
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Dikembe Mutombo nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 5

Season 6
	Dikembe Mutombo	Zion Williamson
Season	1996-97	2025-26
Team	Atlanta Hawks	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-Defensive First Team	-
	Defensive Player of the Year	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Hawks Lost East Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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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		%
Dikembe Mutombo	80	37.2	13.3	3.4	8.3	11.6	1.4	0.6	3.3	2.3	3.1	4.8	9.0	.527	0.0	0.0	-	3.8	5.4	.705
difference:	+77	+4.9	+8.4	+0.1	+5.3	+5.3	+3.3	+2.4	+3.0	-1.0	-1.1	+2.5	+6.7	+.059				+3.2	+5.3	+.049
Zion Williamson	3	32.3	21.7	3.3	3.0	6.3	4.7	3.0	0.3	3.3	2.0	7.3	15.7	.468	0.0	0.0	-	7.0	10.7	.656
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Dikembe Mutombo	10	41.5	15.4	3.7	8.6	12.3	1.3	0.1	2.6	2.0	3.0	5.4	8.6	.628	0.0	0.0	-	4.6	6.4	.719
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Dikembe Mutombo played 12 seasons more than Zion Williamson in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 18, from 1998 to 2009—Dikembe Mutombo played in 10 Playoffs. In those 12 extra years over Zion Williamson, Dikembe Mutombo got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-NBA Third Team 2 All-Defensive First Team 2 All-Defensive Second Team 2 Defensive Player of the Year 2 Rebounds Leader 4 All-Star Game