Gail Goodrich vs. Zion Williamson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Zion Williamson and Gail Goodrich, 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.

Gail Goodrich played 14 years in the NBA, 9 more than Zion Williamson, who played 5. Gail Goodrich had the first of his seasons in 1965-66, while Zion Williamson 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
	Gail Goodrich	Zion Williamson
Season	1965-66	2019-20
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Lakers Lost NBA Finals	Did Not Play

more >>

Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gail Goodrich	65	15.5	7.8	-	-	2.0	1.6	-	-	-	1.6	3.1	7.7	.404	-	-	-	1.6	2.3	.691
difference:	+41	+12.3	+14.7			+4.3	+0.5				-0.2	+5.7	+7.3	+.179				+3.2	+5.1	+.051
Zion Williamson	24	27.8	22.5	2.7	3.6	6.3	2.1	0.7	0.4	2.5	1.8	8.8	15.0	.583	0.3	0.6	.429	4.8	7.4	.640
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gail Goodrich	11	26.4	10.5	-	-	3.8	3.0	-	-	-	3.2	3.9	8.4	.467	-	-	-	2.6	3.9	.674
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Gail Goodrich	Zion Williamson
Season	1966-67	2020-21
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Div Semis	Did Not Play

more >>

2nd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gail Goodrich	77	23.1	12.4	-	-	3.3	2.7	-	-	-	2.5	4.6	10.1	.454	-	-	-	3.3	4.4	.751
difference:	+16	+10.1	+14.6			+3.9	+1.0				-0.3	+5.8	+6.9	+.157				+2.7	+4.3	+.053
Zion Williamson	61	33.2	27.0	2.7	4.5	7.2	3.7	0.9	0.6	2.7	2.2	10.4	17.0	.611	0.2	0.6	.294	6.0	8.7	.698
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gail Goodrich	3	27.0	11.0	-	-	3.0	3.3	-	-	-	1.7	3.7	10.3	.355	-	-	-	3.7	6.0	.611
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Zion Williamson didn't play in 2021-22.

Season 3
	Gail Goodrich	Zion Williamson
Season	1967-68	2022-23
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost NBA Finals	Did Not Play

more >>

3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gail Goodrich	79	26.0	13.8	-	-	2.5	2.6	-	-	-	2.9	5.0	10.3	.486	-	-	-	3.8	5.0	.770
difference:	+50	+7.0	+12.2			+4.5	+2.0				-0.7	+4.8	+5.9	+.122				+2.3	+3.6	+.056
Zion Williamson	29	33.0	26.0	2.0	5.0	7.0	4.6	1.1	0.6	3.4	2.2	9.8	16.2	.608	0.2	0.7	.368	6.1	8.6	.714
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gail Goodrich	10	10.0	6.0	-	-	1.4	1.4	-	-	-	1.0	2.3	4.7	.489	-	-	-	1.4	1.8	.778
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Gail Goodrich	Zion Williamson
Season	1968-69	2023-24
Team	Phoenix Suns	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

4th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gail Goodrich	81	40.0	23.8	-	-	5.4	6.4	-	-	-	3.1	8.9	21.6	.411	-	-	-	6.1	8.2	.747
difference:	+11	+8.5	+0.9			+0.4	+1.4				-0.8		+6.0	+.159				+1.1	+1.1	+.045
Zion Williamson	70	31.5	22.9	1.7	4.1	5.8	5.0	1.1	0.7	2.8	2.3	8.9	15.6	.570	0.1	0.3	.333	5.0	7.1	.702
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Gail Goodrich nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 4

Additional Years
* Gail Goodrich played 9 seasons more than Zion Williamson in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 14, from 1971 to 1979—Gail Goodrich played in 4 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 9 extra years over Zion Williamson, Gail Goodrich got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA First Team 4 All-Star Game