Elvin Hayes vs. Ja Morant Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Ja Morant 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, 10 more than Ja Morant, who played 6. Elvin Hayes had the first of his seasons in 1968-69, while Ja Morant 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
	Elvin Hayes	Ja Morant
Season	1968-69	2019-20
Team	San Diego Rockets	Memphis Grizzlies
Honors & Awards	-	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Div Semis	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		%
Elvin Hayes	82	45.1	28.4	-	-	17.1	1.4	-	-	-	3.2	11.3	25.4	.447	-	-	-	5.7	9.1	.626
difference:	+15	+14.1	+10.6			+13.2	+5.9				-1.6	+4.6	+11.4	+.030				+2.1	+4.5	+.150
Ja Morant	67	31.0	17.8	0.8	3.1	3.9	7.3	0.9	0.3	3.3	1.6	6.7	14.0	.477	0.9	2.7	.335	3.6	4.6	.776
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
Ja Morant	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Elvin Hayes	Ja Morant
Season	1969-70	2020-21
Team	San Diego Rockets	Memphis Grizzlies
Honors & Awards	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Grizzlies 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		%
Elvin Hayes	82	44.7	27.5	-	-	16.9	2.0	-	-	-	3.3	11.1	24.6	.452	-	-	-	5.2	7.6	.688
difference:	+19	+12.1	+8.4			+12.9	+5.4				-1.9	+4.3	+9.4	+.003				+0.9	+1.7	+.040
Ja Morant	63	32.6	19.1	0.9	3.1	4.0	7.4	0.9	0.2	3.2	1.4	6.8	15.2	.449	1.2	3.8	.303	4.3	5.9	.728
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ja Morant	5	40.6	30.2	1.4	3.4	4.8	8.2	0.4	0.0	3.4	1.8	11.0	22.6	.487	2.0	6.2	.323	6.2	8.0	.775

Season 3
	Elvin Hayes	Ja Morant
Season	1970-71	2021-22
Team	San Diego Rockets	Memphis Grizzlies
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Most Improved Player
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Grizzlies Lost West Conf Semis

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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:	+25	+11.2	+1.3			+10.9	+4.4				-1.2	+1.4	+6.4	+.065					+0.9	+.089
Ja Morant	57	33.1	27.4	1.4	4.4	5.7	6.7	1.2	0.4	3.4	1.5	10.2	20.6	.493	1.5	4.5	.344	5.5	7.3	.761
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ja Morant	9	37.6	27.1	1.4	6.6	8.0	9.8	2.0	0.4	3.6	2.4	9.0	20.4	.440	1.9	5.6	.340	7.2	9.7	.747

Season 4
	Elvin Hayes	Ja Morant
Season	1971-72	2022-23
Team	Houston Rockets	Memphis Grizzlies
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Grizzlies Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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:	+21	+10.3	+1.0			+8.7	+4.8				-1.2	+0.8	+3.5	+.032				+1.2	+0.6	+.099
Ja Morant	61	31.9	26.2	1.0	4.9	5.9	8.1	1.1	0.3	3.4	1.6	9.3	19.9	.466	1.5	4.9	.307	6.1	8.1	.748
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ja Morant	5	37.4	24.6	1.6	5.2	6.8	7.0	1.8	0.2	3.4	2.4	9.0	21.2	.425	2.6	6.2	.419	4.0	5.2	.769

Season 5
	Elvin Hayes	Ja Morant
Season	1972-73	2023-24
Team	Baltimore Bullets	Memphis Grizzlies
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Bullets Lost East Conf Semis	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		%
Elvin Hayes	81	41.3	21.2	-	-	14.5	1.6	-	-	-	2.9	8.8	19.8	.444	-	-	-	3.6	5.4	.671
difference:	+72	+6.0	+3.9			+8.9	+6.5				-0.8	+0.1	+0.9	+.027				+2.2	+1.7	+.142
Ja Morant	9	35.3	25.1	0.7	4.9	5.6	8.1	0.8	0.6	3.0	2.1	8.9	18.9	.471	1.6	5.7	.275	5.8	7.1	.813
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
Ja Morant	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	Elvin Hayes	Ja Morant
Season	1973-74	2024-25
Team	Capital Bullets	Memphis Grizzlies
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Bullets Lost East Conf Semis	Grizzlies Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Elvin Hayes	81	44.5	21.4	4.4	13.7	18.1	2.0	1.1	3.0	-	3.1	8.5	20.1	.423	-	-	-	4.4	6.1	.721
difference:	+31	+14.1	+1.8	+3.7	+10.3	+14.0	+5.3	+0.1	+2.8		-0.8	+0.4	+2.3	+.031				+0.9	+0.3	+.103
Ja Morant	50	30.4	23.2	0.7	3.4	4.1	7.3	1.2	0.2	3.7	2.3	8.1	17.8	.454	1.8	5.7	.309	5.3	6.4	.824
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	7	46.1	25.9	4.4	11.4	15.9	3.0	0.7	2.1	-	3.3	10.9	20.4	.531	-	-	-	4.1	5.9	.707
difference:	+4	+18.8	+7.6	+4.1	+9.7	+13.9	+2.0		+1.4		-2.3	+3.6	+2.7	+.116				+1.8	+2.2	+.071
Ja Morant	3	27.3	18.3	0.3	1.7	2.0	5.0	0.7	0.7	2.0	1.0	7.3	17.7	.415	1.3	5.3	.250	2.3	3.7	.636

Additional Years
* Elvin Hayes played 10 seasons more than Ja Morant in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 16, from 1975 to 1984—Elvin Hayes played in 7 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 10 extra years over Ja Morant, Elvin Hayes got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive Second Team 6 All-Star Game