Elvin Hayes vs. Obi Toppin Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Obi Toppin 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 Obi Toppin, who played 5. Elvin Hayes had the first of his seasons in 1968-69, while Obi Toppin 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	Obi Toppin
Season	1968-69	2020-21
Team	San Diego Rockets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Div Semis	Knicks 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:	+20	+34.1	+24.3			+14.9	+0.9				-2.3	+9.6	+22.0	+.051				+5.4	+8.7	+.105
Obi Toppin	62	11.0	4.1	0.4	1.8	2.2	0.5	0.3	0.2	0.4	0.9	1.7	3.4	.498	0.4	1.4	.306	0.3	0.4	.731
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	+33.3	+19.4			+11.2	+0.4				-2.3	+7.6	+14.4	+.004				+4.8	+7.6	+.173
Obi Toppin	5	13.0	6.4	0.8	1.8	2.6	0.4	0.0	0.2	0.6	1.2	2.4	4.6	.522	0.6	1.8	.333	1.0	1.2	.833

Season 2
	Elvin Hayes	Obi Toppin
Season	1969-70	2021-22
Team	San Diego Rockets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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:	+10	+27.6	+18.5			+13.2	+0.9				-1.9	+7.6	+18.0	+.079				+3.9	+5.9	+.070
Obi Toppin	72	17.1	9.0	1.0	2.8	3.7	1.1	0.3	0.5	0.8	1.4	3.5	6.6	.531	0.7	2.3	.308	1.3	1.7	.758
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Elvin Hayes nor Obi Toppin played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	Elvin Hayes	Obi Toppin
Season	1970-71	2022-23
Team	San Diego Rockets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Knicks Lost East 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:	+15	+28.6	+21.3			+13.8	+1.3				-1.7	+8.8	+20.7	+.018				+4.9	+7.5	+.137
Obi Toppin	67	15.7	7.4	0.4	2.4	2.8	1.0	0.3	0.2	0.6	1.0	2.8	6.3	.446	1.3	3.7	.344	0.6	0.7	.809
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Obi Toppin	11	15.9	7.0	0.9	2.6	3.5	0.6	0.7	0.3	0.7	1.1	2.7	6.4	.429	1.2	3.9	.302	0.4	0.5	.800

Season 4
	Elvin Hayes	Obi Toppin
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:		+21.1	+14.9			+10.7	+1.7				-1.1	+6.1	+16.3	+.139				+4.0	+6.3	+.121
Obi Toppin	82	21.1	10.3	1.0	2.9	3.9	1.6	0.6	0.5	0.8	1.7	4.0	7.1	.573	1.2	3.1	.403	0.9	1.2	.770
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Obi Toppin	17	20.2	10.9	0.6	3.8	4.4	1.7	0.4	0.4	0.8	1.2	4.3	7.9	.541	1.2	3.3	.357	1.1	1.5	.760

Season 5
	Elvin Hayes	Obi Toppin
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:	+2	+21.7	+10.7			+10.5					-1.5	+4.8	+12.2	+.085				+2.5	+4.0	+.110
Obi Toppin	79	19.6	10.5	0.7	3.3	4.0	1.6	0.6	0.4	0.9	1.4	4.0	7.6	.529	1.4	3.8	.365	1.1	1.4	.781
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	+26.5	+16.4			+7.6	+0.3				-1.2	+7.0	+13.6	+.020				+3.5	+5.0	+.003
Obi Toppin	23	19.1	9.4	0.6	3.3	3.8	1.3	0.7	0.3	1.0	2.0	3.6	7.4	.485	1.1	3.4	.321	1.1	1.6	.694

Additional Years
* Elvin Hayes played 11 seasons more than Obi Toppin 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 Obi Toppin, 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