Elvin Hayes vs. Payton Pritchard Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Payton Pritchard 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 Payton Pritchard, who played 5. Elvin Hayes had the first of his seasons in 1968-69, while Payton Pritchard 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	Payton Pritchard
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:	+16	+25.9	+20.7			+14.7	+0.4				-1.6	+8.5	+19.1	+.007				+5.1	+8.4	+.263
Payton Pritchard	66	19.2	7.7	0.5	1.9	2.4	1.8	0.6	0.1	0.8	1.6	2.8	6.3	.440	1.5	3.8	.411	0.6	0.7	.889
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	+32.9	+22.4			+12.0	+1.6				-2.7	+8.8	+15.6	+.173				+5.4	+8.4	+.340
Payton Pritchard	5	13.4	3.4	0.4	1.4	1.8	2.4	0.4	0.0	0.6	0.8	1.2	3.4	.353	0.6	2.0	.300	0.4	0.4	1.000

Season 2
	Elvin Hayes	Payton Pritchard
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:	+11	+30.6	+21.3			+15.0					-2.4	+8.8	+19.3	+.023				+4.9	+7.3	+.312
Payton Pritchard	71	14.1	6.2	0.5	1.4	1.9	2.0	0.4	0.1	0.6	0.9	2.3	5.3	.429	1.4	3.5	.412	0.3	0.3	1.000
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Payton Pritchard	24	12.9	4.8	0.4	1.5	1.9	1.6	0.3	0.1	0.4	1.0	1.8	4.3	.422	1.0	3.0	.333	0.2	0.3	.667

Season 3
	Elvin Hayes	Payton Pritchard
Season	1970-71	2022-23
Team	San Diego Rockets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals

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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:	+34	+30.9	+23.1			+14.8	+1.0				-1.9	+9.5	+21.9	+.016				+5.2	+7.9	+.078
Payton Pritchard	48	13.4	5.6	0.5	1.3	1.8	1.3	0.3	0.0	0.8	0.8	2.1	5.1	.412	1.2	3.2	.364	0.3	0.3	.750
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Payton Pritchard	10	5.7	3.2	0.0	0.6	0.6	1.1	0.1	0.0	0.5	0.3	1.2	2.2	.545	0.4	1.0	.400	0.4	0.5	.800

Season 4
	Elvin Hayes	Payton Pritchard
Season	1971-72	2023-24
Team	Houston Rockets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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:		+19.9	+15.6			+11.4	+0.1				-1.5	+6.5	+15.7	+.034				+4.3	+6.8	+.172
Payton Pritchard	82	22.3	9.6	0.9	2.4	3.2	3.4	0.5	0.1	0.7	1.3	3.6	7.7	.468	1.8	4.7	.385	0.6	0.7	.821
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Elvin Hayes	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Payton Pritchard	19	18.7	6.4	0.7	1.2	1.9	2.1	0.2	0.0	0.7	1.2	2.3	5.5	.419	1.2	3.2	.383	0.6	0.6	.917

Season 5
	Elvin Hayes	Payton Pritchard
Season	1972-73	2024-25
Team	Baltimore Bullets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	-	Sixth Man of the Year
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Bullets Lost East Conf Semis	Celtics Lost East Conf Semis

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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:	+1	+12.9	+6.9			+10.7	+1.9				-1.4	+3.7	+9.0	+.028				+2.7	+4.3	+.174
Payton Pritchard	80	28.4	14.3	1.3	2.6	3.8	3.5	0.9	0.2	1.0	1.5	5.1	10.8	.472	3.2	7.8	.407	0.9	1.1	.845
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:	+6	+18.1	+13.9			+9.1	+0.5				-1.5	+6.5	+12.0	+.050				+3.3	+5.1	+.127
Payton Pritchard	11	27.5	11.9	0.8	1.5	2.3	1.5	0.5	0.0	0.8	1.7	4.1	9.0	.455	2.5	6.1	.403	1.3	1.5	.824

Additional Years
* Elvin Hayes played 11 seasons more than Payton Pritchard 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 Payton Pritchard, 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