Elgin Baylor vs. Amen Thompson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Amen Thompson and Elgin Baylor, 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.

Elgin Baylor played 14 years in the NBA, 11 more than Amen Thompson, who played 3. Elgin Baylor had the first of his seasons in 1958-59, while Amen Thompson had his rookie season in 2023-24. 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
	Elgin Baylor	Amen Thompson
Season	1958-59	2023-24
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Rookie of the Year	-
	-	All-Rookie Second Team
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game MVP	-
Playoffs	Lakers 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		%
Elgin Baylor	70	40.8	24.9	-	-	15.0	4.1	-	-	-	3.9	8.6	21.2	.408	-	-	-	7.6	9.8	.777
difference:	+8	+18.4	+15.4			+8.4	+1.5				-1.6	+4.7	+14.0	+.128				+5.9	+7.3	+.093
Amen Thompson	62	22.4	9.5	2.4	4.2	6.6	2.6	1.3	0.6	1.5	2.3	3.9	7.2	.536	0.1	0.9	.138	1.7	2.5	.684
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elgin Baylor	13	42.8	25.5	-	-	12.0	3.3	-	-	-	4.0	9.4	23.3	.403	-	-	-	6.7	8.7	.770
Amen Thompson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Elgin Baylor	Amen Thompson
Season	1959-60	2024-25
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Div Finals	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Elgin Baylor	70	41.0	29.6	-	-	16.4	3.5	-	-	-	3.3	10.8	25.4	.424	-	-	-	8.1	11.0	.732
difference:	+1	+8.8	+15.5			+8.2	+0.3				-0.9	+5.2	+15.3	+.133				+5.7	+7.4	+.048
Amen Thompson	69	32.2	14.1	2.8	5.4	8.2	3.8	1.4	1.3	2.0	2.4	5.6	10.1	.557	0.4	1.3	.275	2.4	3.6	.684
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elgin Baylor	9	45.3	33.4	-	-	14.1	3.4	-	-	-	4.2	12.3	26.0	.474	-	-	-	8.8	10.4	.840
difference:	+2	+12.3	+17.7			+7.2	+0.1				-1.6	+6.3	+13.9	+.020				+5.2	+5.3	+.146
Amen Thompson	7	33.0	15.7	2.7	4.1	6.9	3.3	1.7	0.9	1.7	2.6	6.0	12.1	.494	0.1	0.6	.250	3.6	5.1	.694

Season 3
	Elgin Baylor	Amen Thompson
Season	1960-61	2025-26
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Div Finals	Did not play (season in progress)

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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		%
Elgin Baylor	73	42.9	34.8	-	-	19.8	5.1	-	-	-	3.8	12.8	29.7	.430	-	-	-	9.3	11.8	.783
difference:	+44	+6.2	+17.1			+12.5	+0.2				-1.4	+5.7	+15.8	+.077				+6.1	+7.7	+.001
Amen Thompson	29	36.7	17.7	2.7	4.6	7.3	5.3	1.3	0.5	2.6	2.4	7.1	13.9	.507	0.4	2.0	.186	3.2	4.1	.782
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elgin Baylor	12	45.0	38.1	-	-	15.3	4.6	-	-	-	3.7	14.2	30.2	.470	-	-	-	9.8	11.8	.824
Amen Thompson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Elgin Baylor played 11 seasons more than Amen Thompson in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 14, from 1962 to 1972—Elgin Baylor played in 9 Playoffs. In those 11 extra years over Amen Thompson, Elgin Baylor got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	7 All-NBA First Team 8 All-Star Game