Elvin Hayes vs. Walker Kessler Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Walker Kessler 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, 13 more than Walker Kessler, who played 3. Elvin Hayes had the first of his seasons in 1968-69, while Walker Kessler had his rookie season in 2022-23. 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	Walker Kessler
Season	1968-69	2022-23
Team	San Diego Rockets	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	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:	+8	+22.1	+19.2			+8.7	+0.5				-0.9	+7.3	+19.8	+.273				+4.6	+7.0	+.110
Walker Kessler	74	23.0	9.2	3.1	5.3	8.4	0.9	0.4	2.3	0.8	2.3	4.0	5.6	.720	0.0	0.0	-	1.1	2.1	.516
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
Walker Kessler	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Elvin Hayes	Walker Kessler
Season	1969-70	2023-24
Team	San Diego Rockets	Utah Jazz
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:	+18	+21.4	+19.4			+9.4	+1.1				-1.2	+7.5	+19.1	+.202				+4.3	+6.1	+.086
Walker Kessler	64	23.3	8.1	2.6	4.9	7.5	0.9	0.5	2.4	1.0	2.1	3.6	5.5	.654	0.1	0.3	.211	0.9	1.5	.602
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Elvin Hayes nor Walker Kessler played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	Elvin Hayes	Walker Kessler
Season	1970-71	2024-25
Team	San Diego Rockets	Utah Jazz
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:	+24	+14.3	+17.6			+4.4	+0.6				-0.5	+6.8	+19.8	+.235				+4.1	+5.6	+.152
Walker Kessler	58	30.0	11.1	4.6	7.6	12.2	1.7	0.6	2.4	1.5	2.2	4.8	7.2	.663	0.1	0.6	.176	1.4	2.6	.520
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Elvin Hayes nor Walker Kessler played in the postseason in their season 3

Additional Years
* Elvin Hayes played 13 seasons more than Walker Kessler in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 16, from 1972 to 1984—Elvin Hayes played in 9 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 13 extra years over Walker Kessler, Elvin Hayes got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Rebounds Leader 9 All-Star Game