Gary Payton vs. Franz Wagner Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Franz Wagner and Gary Payton, 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.

Gary Payton played 17 years in the NBA, 12 more than Franz Wagner, who played 5. Gary Payton had the first of his seasons in 1990-91, while Franz Wagner had his rookie season in 2021-22. 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
	Gary Payton	Franz Wagner
Season	1990-91	2021-22
Team	Seattle Supersonics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Rookie Second Team	-
Playoffs	Supersonics Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Gary Payton	82	27.4	7.2	1.3	1.6	3.0	6.4	2.0	0.2	2.2	3.0	3.2	7.0	.450	0.0	0.2	.077	0.8	1.2	.711
difference:	+3	+3.3	+8.0	+0.2	+1.8	+1.5	+3.5	+1.1	+0.2	-0.7	-0.9	+2.6	+5.3	+.018	+1.2	+3.2	+.277	+1.6	+1.6	+.152
Franz Wagner	79	30.7	15.2	1.1	3.4	4.5	2.9	0.9	0.4	1.5	2.1	5.8	12.3	.468	1.2	3.4	.354	2.4	2.8	.863
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gary Payton	5	27.0	4.8	1.0	1.6	2.6	6.4	1.6	0.2	1.8	3.2	2.2	5.4	.407	0.0	0.2	.000	0.4	0.4	1.000
Franz Wagner	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Gary Payton	Franz Wagner
Season	1993-94	2024-25
Team	Seattle Supersonics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Supersonics Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Magic Lost East 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		%
Gary Payton	82	35.1	16.5	1.3	2.0	3.3	6.0	2.3	0.2	2.1	2.8	7.1	14.1	.504	0.2	0.7	.278	2.0	3.4	.595
difference:	+22	+1.4	+7.7	+0.4	+2.8	+2.4	+1.3	+1.0	+0.2	-0.2	-0.3	+1.9	+5.3	+.041	+1.5	+5.2	+.017	+2.5	+1.8	+.276
Franz Wagner	60	33.7	24.2	0.9	4.8	5.7	4.7	1.3	0.4	2.3	2.5	9.0	19.4	.463	1.7	5.9	.295	4.5	5.2	.871
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gary Payton	5	36.2	15.8	1.2	2.2	3.4	5.6	1.6	0.4	1.6	3.0	6.8	13.8	.493	0.6	1.8	.333	1.6	3.8	.421
difference:		+2.8	+10.0	+0.6	+2.0	+1.4		+0.4		-0.4	-0.2	+3.4	+9.2	+.050	+0.8	+5.6	+.144	+2.4	+1.4	+.348
Franz Wagner	5	39.0	25.8	0.6	4.2	4.8	5.6	1.2	0.4	2.0	3.2	10.2	23.0	.443	1.4	7.4	.189	4.0	5.2	.769

Season 5
	Gary Payton	Franz Wagner
Season	1994-95	2025-26
Team	Seattle Supersonics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Supersonics Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Gary Payton	82	36.8	20.6	1.3	2.1	3.4	7.1	2.5	0.2	2.5	2.5	8.4	16.4	.509	0.9	2.8	.302	3.0	4.2	.716
difference:	+76	+2.0	+1.6	+0.1	+2.2	+2.1	+4.1	+1.5	+0.1	-0.5	-0.5	+0.4	+1.2	+.018	+0.9	+1.4	+.138	+1.3	+1.8	+.006
Franz Wagner	6	34.8	22.2	1.2	4.3	5.5	3.0	1.0	0.3	2.0	3.0	8.0	15.2	.527	1.8	4.2	.440	4.3	6.0	.722
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gary Payton	4	43.0	17.8	1.5	1.0	2.5	5.3	1.3	0.0	2.0	3.3	8.0	16.8	.478	0.5	2.5	.200	1.3	3.0	.417
Franz Wagner	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Gary Payton played 12 seasons more than Franz Wagner in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 17, from 1996 to 2007—Gary Payton played in 10 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 12 extra years over Franz Wagner, Gary Payton got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 All-NBA First Team 4 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 7 All-Defensive First Team 1 Defensive Player of the Year 1 Steals Leader 7 All-Star Game