Don Nelson vs. Isaiah Thomas Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Isaiah Thomas and Don Nelson, 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 Nelson played 14 years in the NBA, 2 more than Isaiah Thomas, who played 12. Don Nelson had the first of his seasons in 1962-63, while Isaiah Thomas had his rookie season in 2011-12. 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: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14
Rookie Season
	Don Nelson	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1962-63	2011-12
Team	Chicago Zephyrs	Sacramento Kings
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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 Nelson	62	17.3	6.8	-	-	4.5	1.2	-	-	-	2.2	2.1	4.7	.440	-	-	-	2.6	3.6	.729
Isaiah Thomas	65	25.5	11.5	0.7	1.8	2.6	4.1	0.8	0.1	1.6	1.9	3.9	8.8	.448	1.3	3.4	.379	2.4	2.8	.832
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Nelson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Isaiah Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Don Nelson	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1965-66	2014-15
Team	Boston Celtics	Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Celtics Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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 Nelson	75	23.5	10.2	-	-	5.4	1.1	-	-	-	2.5	3.6	8.2	.439	-	-	-	3.0	4.3	.684
Isaiah Thomas	67	25.8	16.4	0.5	1.8	2.3	4.2	0.9	0.1	2.1	2.2	5.0	11.9	.420	1.9	5.2	.373	4.5	5.2	.868
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Nelson	17	18.6	8.4	-	-	5.0	0.8	-	-	-	2.9	2.9	6.9	.424	-	-	-	2.5	3.1	.808
Isaiah Thomas	4	29.8	17.5	0.3	2.8	3.0	7.0	0.8	0.0	3.5	2.5	4.5	13.5	.333	0.8	4.5	.167	7.8	8.0	.969

Season 5
	Don Nelson	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1966-67	2015-16
Team	Boston Celtics	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Div Finals	Celtics Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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 Nelson	79	15.2	7.5	-	-	3.7	0.8	-	-	-	1.8	2.9	6.4	.446	-	-	-	1.8	2.4	.742
Isaiah Thomas	82	32.2	22.2	0.6	2.4	3.0	6.2	1.1	0.1	2.7	2.0	7.2	16.9	.428	2.0	5.7	.359	5.8	6.6	.871
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Nelson	9	15.8	7.1	-	-	4.7	1.0	-	-	-	1.3	3.0	6.6	.458	-	-	-	1.1	1.9	.588
Isaiah Thomas	6	36.7	24.2	0.3	2.7	3.0	5.0	0.7	0.8	2.3	3.0	7.8	19.8	.395	2.2	7.7	.283	6.3	7.8	.809

Season 6
	Don Nelson	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1967-68	2016-17
Team	Boston Celtics	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Celtics Lost East Conf 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 Nelson	82	18.3	10.0	-	-	5.3	1.3	-	-	-	2.2	3.8	7.7	.494	-	-	-	2.4	3.3	.728
Isaiah Thomas	76	33.8	28.9	0.6	2.1	2.7	5.9	0.9	0.2	2.8	2.2	9.0	19.4	.463	3.2	8.5	.379	7.8	8.5	.909
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Nelson	19	24.6	12.5	-	-	7.5	1.7	-	-	-	2.6	4.8	9.2	.520	-	-	-	2.9	3.9	.743
Isaiah Thomas	15	34.7	23.3	0.3	2.8	3.1	6.7	0.9	0.1	3.3	2.3	7.4	17.4	.425	2.4	7.2	.333	6.1	7.4	.820

Season 7
	Don Nelson	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1968-69	2017-18
Team	Boston Celtics	Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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 Nelson	82	21.6	11.6	-	-	5.6	1.1	-	-	-	2.4	4.6	9.4	.485	-	-	-	2.5	3.2	.776
Isaiah Thomas	32	26.9	15.2	0.5	1.6	2.1	4.8	0.5	0.1	3.0	1.8	4.9	13.2	.373	1.7	5.9	.293	3.7	4.1	.893
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Nelson	18	19.3	12.4	-	-	4.6	1.2	-	-	-	2.8	4.8	9.3	.518	-	-	-	2.8	3.3	.833
Isaiah Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Isaiah Thomas didn't play in 2022-23.

Season 12
	Don Nelson	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1973-74	2023-24
Team	Boston Celtics	Phoenix Suns
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Suns Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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 Nelson	82	21.3	11.5	1.1	3.1	4.2	2.0	0.2	0.2	-	2.3	4.4	8.7	.508	-	-	-	2.6	3.3	.788
Isaiah Thomas	6	3.2	1.3	0.0	0.0	0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.7	.300	0.3	0.7	.500	0.0	0.0	-
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Nelson	18	25.9	11.4	1.4	4.0	5.4	1.9	0.4	0.2	-	3.0	4.6	9.1	.500	-	-	-	2.3	2.9	.774
Isaiah Thomas	1	4.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	.000	0.0	1.0	.000	0.0	0.0	-

Season 14
	Don Nelson	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1975-76	-
Team	Boston Celtics	-
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	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 Nelson	75	12.6	6.4	0.7	1.7	2.4	1.0	0.2	0.1	-	1.5	2.3	5.1	.462	-	-	-	1.7	2.1	.789
Isaiah Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Don Nelson	18	17.5	9.1	0.9	2.0	2.9	0.9	0.2	0.1	-	2.6	2.9	6.0	.481	-	-	-	3.3	3.8	.870
Isaiah Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-