Gary Payton vs. Jakob Poeltl Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Jakob Poeltl 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, 8 more than Jakob Poeltl, who played 9. Gary Payton had the first of his seasons in 1990-91, while Jakob Poeltl had his rookie season in 2016-17. 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	Jakob Poeltl
Season	1990-91	2016-17
Team	Seattle Supersonics	Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie Second Team	-
Playoffs	Supersonics Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Raptors Lost East Conf Semis

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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:	+28	+15.8	+4.1	+0.1		+0.1	+6.2	+1.7	+0.2	-1.7	-0.9	+2.0	+4.9	+.133		+0.2		+0.2	+0.1	+.167
Jakob Poeltl	54	11.6	3.1	1.4	1.6	3.1	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.5	2.1	1.2	2.1	.583	0.0	0.0	-	0.6	1.1	.544
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
difference:	+1	+22.7	+3.1		+0.6	+0.6	+6.4	+1.4		-1.8	-2.7	+1.4	+3.6	+.048		+0.2		+0.4	+0.1	+1.000
Jakob Poeltl	6	4.3	1.7	1.0	1.0	2.0	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.5	0.8	1.8	.455	0.0	0.0	-	0.0	0.3	.000

Season 4
	Gary Payton	Jakob Poeltl
Season	1993-94	2019-20
Team	Seattle Supersonics	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Supersonics Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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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:	+16	+17.4	+10.9	+0.7	+1.7	+2.4	+4.2	+1.7	+1.2	-1.3	-0.9	+4.6	+10.1	+.120	+0.2	+0.7		+1.4	+2.1	+.130
Jakob Poeltl	66	17.7	5.6	2.0	3.7	5.7	1.8	0.6	1.4	0.8	1.9	2.5	4.0	.624	0.0	0.0	-	0.6	1.3	.465
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
Jakob Poeltl	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Gary Payton	Jakob Poeltl
Season	1994-95	2020-21
Team	Seattle Supersonics	San Antonio Spurs
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:	+13	+10.1	+12.0	+1.9	+2.7	+4.5	+5.2	+1.8	+1.6	-1.3		+4.6	+10.2	+.107	+0.9	+2.8		+2.1	+2.4	+.208
Jakob Poeltl	69	26.7	8.6	3.2	4.8	7.9	1.9	0.7	1.8	1.2	2.5	3.8	6.2	.616	0.0	0.0	-	0.9	1.8	.508
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
Jakob Poeltl	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	Gary Payton	Jakob Poeltl
Season	1995-96	2021-22
Team	Seattle Supersonics	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	Defensive Player of the Year	-
	Steals Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Supersonics Lost NBA Finals	Did Not Play

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6th 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	81	39.0	19.3	1.3	2.9	4.2	7.5	2.9	0.2	3.2	2.7	7.6	15.8	.484	1.2	3.7	.328	2.8	3.8	.748
difference:	+13	+10.0	+5.8	+2.6	+2.6	+5.1	+4.7	+2.2	+1.5	-1.6	-0.4	+1.6	+6.0	+.134	+1.2	+3.7		+1.4	+1.0	+.253
Jakob Poeltl	68	29.0	13.5	3.9	5.5	9.3	2.8	0.7	1.7	1.6	3.1	6.0	9.8	.618	0.0	0.0	-	1.4	2.8	.495
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gary Payton	21	43.4	20.7	0.9	4.2	5.1	6.8	1.8	0.3	3.0	3.3	7.7	15.9	.485	2.0	4.8	.410	3.3	5.2	.633
Jakob Poeltl	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 7
	Gary Payton	Jakob Poeltl
Season	1996-97	2022-23
Team	Seattle Supersonics	San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Supersonics Lost West Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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7th 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	39.2	21.8	1.3	3.3	4.6	7.1	2.4	0.2	2.6	2.5	8.6	18.1	.476	1.5	4.6	.313	3.1	4.3	.715
difference:	+10	+12.7	+9.3	+2.0	+2.5	+4.5	+4.4	+1.5	+1.0	-0.9	-0.2	+3.2	+9.5	+.153	+1.5	+4.6		+1.4	+1.5	+.123
Jakob Poeltl	72	26.5	12.5	3.3	5.8	9.1	2.7	0.9	1.2	1.7	2.7	5.4	8.6	.629	0.0	0.0	-	1.7	2.8	.592
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gary Payton	12	45.6	23.8	1.7	3.8	5.4	8.7	2.2	0.3	2.9	2.2	8.8	21.3	.412	2.1	6.3	.333	4.2	5.1	.820
Jakob Poeltl	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 8
	Gary Payton	Jakob Poeltl
Season	1997-98	2023-24
Team	Seattle Supersonics	Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Supersonics Lost West Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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8th 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	38.4	19.2	0.9	3.6	4.6	8.3	2.3	0.2	2.8	2.4	7.1	15.6	.453	1.6	4.8	.338	3.4	4.6	.744
difference:	+32	+12.0	+8.1	+2.0	+2.1	+4.0	+5.8	+1.6	+1.3	-1.3	-0.6	+2.1	+8.0	+.203	+1.6	+4.8		+2.2	+2.5	+.193
Jakob Poeltl	50	26.4	11.1	2.9	5.7	8.6	2.5	0.7	1.5	1.5	3.0	5.0	7.6	.656	0.0	0.0	-	1.2	2.1	.551
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Gary Payton	10	42.7	24.0	0.9	2.5	3.4	7.0	1.8	0.1	2.6	3.1	8.7	18.3	.475	1.9	5.0	.380	4.7	5.0	.940
Jakob Poeltl	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 9
	Gary Payton	Jakob Poeltl
Season	1998-99	2024-25
Team	Seattle Supersonics	Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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9th 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	50	40.2	21.7	1.2	3.6	4.9	8.7	2.2	0.2	3.1	2.3	8.0	18.5	.434	1.7	5.6	.295	4.0	5.5	.721
difference:	+7	+10.6	+7.2	+2.1	+2.7	+4.7	+5.9	+1.0	+1.0	-1.2	-0.8	+1.6	+8.3	+.193	+1.7	+5.5	+.038	+2.3	+3.0	+.047
Jakob Poeltl	57	29.6	14.5	3.3	6.3	9.6	2.8	1.2	1.2	1.9	3.1	6.4	10.2	.627	0.0	0.1	.333	1.7	2.5	.674
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Gary Payton nor Jakob Poeltl played in the postseason in their season 9

Additional Years
* Gary Payton played 8 seasons more than Jakob Poeltl in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 10 to 17, from 2000 to 2007—Gary Payton played in 7 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 8 extra years over Jakob Poeltl, Gary Payton got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 3 All-Defensive First Team 4 All-Star Game