Don Carlson vs. Billy Cunningham Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Billy Cunningham and Don Carlson, 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.

Don Carlson played 4 years in the NBA, 5 less than Billy Cunningham, who played 9. Don Carlson had the first of his seasons in 1946-47, while Billy Cunningham had his rookie season in 1965-66. 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 achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
Rookie Season
	Don Carlson	Billy Cunningham
Season	1946-47	1965-66
Team	Chicago Stags	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Stags Lost NBA Finals	76ers Lost East Div Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	59	-	10.7	-	-	-	1.0	-	-	-	3.1	4.6	14.3	.322	-	-	-	1.5	2.7	.541
Billy Cunningham	80	26.7	14.3	-	-	7.5	2.6	-	-	-	3.8	5.4	12.6	.426	-	-	-	3.5	5.5	.634
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	11	-	12.3	-	-	-	0.5	-	-	-	2.8	4.9	18.2	.270	-	-	-	2.5	4.0	.614
Billy Cunningham	4	17.3	5.3	-	-	4.5	2.5	-	-	-	2.8	1.3	7.8	.161	-	-	-	2.8	3.3	.846

Note: Don Carlson didn't play in 1947-48.

Season 2
	Don Carlson	Billy Cunningham
Season	1948-49	1966-67
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	NBA Champion

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	55	-	9.2	-	-	-	3.1	-	-	-	3.3	3.8	11.5	.334	-	-	-	1.6	2.4	.662
Billy Cunningham	81	26.8	18.5	-	-	7.3	2.5	-	-	-	3.2	6.9	15.0	.459	-	-	-	4.7	6.9	.686
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	10	-	6.0	-	-	-	2.8	-	-	-	3.0	2.3	9.5	.242	-	-	-	1.4	2.5	.560
Billy Cunningham	15	22.6	15.0	-	-	6.2	2.2	-	-	-	3.5	5.5	14.7	.376	-	-	-	3.9	6.0	.656

Season 3
	Don Carlson	Billy Cunningham
Season	1949-50	1967-68
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	76ers Lost East Div Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	57	-	4.7	-	-	-	1.3	-	-	-	2.2	1.7	5.1	.341	-	-	-	1.2	1.7	.726
Billy Cunningham	74	28.1	18.9	-	-	7.6	2.5	-	-	-	3.5	7.0	15.9	.438	-	-	-	5.0	6.9	.723
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	10	-	5.4	-	-	-	1.1	-	-	-	1.9	2.1	3.7	.568	-	-	-	1.2	1.5	.800
Billy Cunningham	3	28.7	20.7	-	-	7.3	3.3	-	-	-	5.3	8.0	14.3	.558	-	-	-	4.7	5.7	.824

Season 4
	Don Carlson	Billy Cunningham
Season	1950-51	1968-69
Team	Baltimore Bullets (1st)	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	76ers Lost East Div Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	9	-	4.7	-	-	1.7	2.1	-	-	-	2.6	1.9	5.1	.370	-	-	-	0.9	1.8	.500
Billy Cunningham	82	40.8	24.8	-	-	12.8	3.5	-	-	-	4.0	9.0	21.2	.426	-	-	-	6.8	9.2	.737
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	5	43.4	24.4	-	-	12.6	2.4	-	-	-	4.8	9.8	23.4	.419	-	-	-	4.8	7.6	.632

Season 5
	Don Carlson	Billy Cunningham
Season	-	1969-70
Team	-	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	76ers Lost East Div Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	81	39.4	26.1	-	-	13.6	4.3	-	-	-	4.1	9.9	21.1	.469	-	-	-	6.3	8.6	.729
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	5	41.0	29.2	-	-	10.4	4.0	-	-	-	3.8	12.2	24.6	.496	-	-	-	4.8	7.2	.667

Season 6
	Don Carlson	Billy Cunningham
Season	-	1970-71
Team	-	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	76ers Lost East Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	81	38.1	23.0	-	-	11.7	4.9	-	-	-	4.0	8.7	18.8	.462	-	-	-	5.6	7.7	.734
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	7	43.0	25.9	-	-	15.4	5.7	-	-	-	4.0	9.6	20.3	.472	-	-	-	6.7	9.6	.701

Season 7
	Don Carlson	Billy Cunningham
Season	-	1971-72
Team	-	Philadelphia 76ers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	75	38.7	23.3	-	-	12.2	5.9	-	-	-	3.9	8.8	19.0	.461	-	-	-	5.7	8.0	.712
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Carlson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Billy Cunningham	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Billy Cunningham didn't play in 1972-73 and 1973-74.