Elvin Hayes vs. Aaron Nesmith Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Aaron Nesmith and Elvin Hayes, 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.

Elvin Hayes played 16 years in the NBA, 11 more than Aaron Nesmith, who played 5. Elvin Hayes had the first of his seasons in 1968-69, while Aaron Nesmith had his rookie season in 2020-21. 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
	Elvin Hayes	Aaron Nesmith
Season	1968-69	2020-21
Team	San Diego Rockets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Div Semis	Celtics Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Elvin Hayes	82	45.1	28.4	-	-	17.1	1.4	-	-	-	3.2	11.3	25.4	.447	-	-	-	5.7	9.1	.626
difference:	+36	+30.6	+23.7			+14.3	+0.9				-1.3	+9.6	+21.5	+.009				+5.2	+8.5	+.160
Aaron Nesmith	46	14.5	4.7	0.6	2.2	2.8	0.5	0.3	0.2	0.5	1.9	1.7	3.9	.438	0.9	2.3	.370	0.5	0.6	.786
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	6	46.3	25.8	-	-	13.8	0.8	-	-	-	3.5	10.0	19.0	.526	-	-	-	5.8	8.8	.660
difference:	+1	+31.3	+22.6			+11.2	+0.6				-2.1	+9.0	+15.4	+.248				+5.4	+8.4	+.340
Aaron Nesmith	5	15.0	3.2	0.4	2.2	2.6	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.4	1.4	1.0	3.6	.278	0.8	2.8	.286	0.4	0.4	1.000

Season 2
	Elvin Hayes	Aaron Nesmith
Season	1969-70	2021-22
Team	San Diego Rockets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost NBA 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		%
Elvin Hayes	82	44.7	27.5	-	-	16.9	2.0	-	-	-	3.3	11.1	24.6	.452	-	-	-	5.2	7.6	.688
difference:	+30	+33.7	+23.7			+15.2	+1.6				-2.0	+9.7	+21.1	+.056				+4.8	+7.1	+.120
Aaron Nesmith	52	11.0	3.8	0.3	1.4	1.7	0.4	0.4	0.1	0.6	1.3	1.4	3.5	.396	0.6	2.2	.270	0.4	0.5	.808
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Aaron Nesmith	15	3.5	0.8	0.3	0.7	1.0	0.2	0.1	0.3	0.1	0.4	0.3	1.1	.235	0.1	0.7	.091	0.2	0.3	.750

Season 3
	Elvin Hayes	Aaron Nesmith
Season	1970-71	2022-23
Team	San Diego Rockets	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Elvin Hayes	82	44.3	28.7	-	-	16.6	2.3	-	-	-	2.7	11.6	27.0	.428	-	-	-	5.5	8.2	.672
difference:	+9	+19.4	+18.6			+12.8	+1.0				-0.5	+8.1	+18.9	+.001				+3.9	+6.3	+.166
Aaron Nesmith	73	24.9	10.1	0.8	2.9	3.8	1.3	0.8	0.5	1.0	3.2	3.5	8.1	.427	1.6	4.3	.366	1.6	1.9	.838
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Elvin Hayes nor Aaron Nesmith played in the postseason in their season 3

Season 4
	Elvin Hayes	Aaron Nesmith
Season	1971-72	2023-24
Team	Houston Rockets	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Pacers Lost East Conf Finals

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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		%
Elvin Hayes	82	42.2	25.2	-	-	14.6	3.3	-	-	-	2.8	10.1	23.4	.434	-	-	-	4.9	7.5	.649
difference:	+10	+14.5	+13.0			+10.8	+1.8				-0.5	+5.7	+14.6	+.062				+3.4	+5.6	+.132
Aaron Nesmith	72	27.7	12.2	0.9	2.9	3.8	1.5	0.9	0.7	0.9	3.3	4.4	8.8	.496	1.9	4.6	.419	1.5	1.9	.781
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Aaron Nesmith	17	32.9	10.5	1.1	3.8	4.9	2.2	0.6	0.5	1.4	3.9	3.6	8.3	.433	1.3	4.6	.278	2.0	2.2	.919

Season 5
	Elvin Hayes	Aaron Nesmith
Season	1972-73	2024-25
Team	Baltimore Bullets	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Bullets Lost East Conf Semis	Pacers Lost NBA 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		%
Elvin Hayes	81	41.3	21.2	-	-	14.5	1.6	-	-	-	2.9	8.8	19.8	.444	-	-	-	3.6	5.4	.671
difference:	+36	+16.3	+9.2			+10.5	+0.4				-0.4	+4.5	+11.4	+.063				+2.0	+3.6	+.242
Aaron Nesmith	45	25.0	12.0	0.8	3.1	4.0	1.2	0.8	0.4	0.8	2.5	4.3	8.4	.507	1.9	4.3	.431	1.6	1.8	.913
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	5	45.6	25.8	-	-	11.4	1.0	-	-	-	3.2	10.6	21.0	.505	-	-	-	4.6	6.6	.697
difference:	+18	+17.3	+13.1			+5.7	+0.1				-0.9	+6.3	+11.8	+.033				+3.3	+5.0	+.164
Aaron Nesmith	23	28.3	12.7	1.2	4.5	5.7	1.1	0.9	0.8	1.0	4.1	4.3	9.2	.472	2.6	5.3	.492	1.3	1.6	.861

Additional Years
* Elvin Hayes played 11 seasons more than Aaron Nesmith in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 16, from 1974 to 1984—Elvin Hayes played in 8 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 11 extra years over Aaron Nesmith, Elvin Hayes got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 All-NBA First Team 2 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Rebounds Leader 7 All-Star Game