George Gervin vs. Shaquille O'Neal Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Shaquille O'Neal and George Gervin, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Player comparisons:
Career comparison / Season by season / Stats / Stats Rankings

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.

George Gervin played 10 years in the NBA, 9 less than Shaquille O'Neal, who played 19. George Gervin had the first of his seasons in 1976-77, while Shaquille O'Neal had his rookie season in 1992-93. 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.

Their Careers
Player	Total Seasons	Playoffs Played	NBA Years
George Gervin	10	9	1976-77 to 1985-86
Shaquille O'Neal	19	17	1992-93 to 2010-11

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10


Rookie Season
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1976-77	1992-93
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	-	Rookie of the Year
	-	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Spurs Lost East 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		%
George Gervin	82	33.0	23.1	1.6	3.9	5.5	2.9	1.3	1.3	-	3.5	8.9	16.3	.544	-	-	-	5.4	6.5	.833
difference:	+1	+4.9	+0.3	+2.6	+5.7	+8.4	+1.0	+0.6	+2.2		-0.5	+0.1	+0.2	+.018				+0.1	+2.4	+.241
Shaquille O'Neal	81	37.9	23.4	4.2	9.6	13.9	1.9	0.7	3.5	3.8	4.0	9.0	16.1	.562	0.0	0.0	-	5.3	8.9	.592

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	2	31.0	25.0	2.5	3.0	5.5	1.5	0.5	1.0	-	4.5	9.5	22.0	.432	-	-	-	6.0	7.5	.800
Shaquille O'Neal	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-


Season 2
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1977-78	1993-94
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Third Team
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Spurs Lost East Conf Semis	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
George Gervin	82	34.8	27.2	1.4	3.7	5.1	3.7	1.7	1.3	3.7	3.1	10.5	19.6	.536	-	-	-	6.1	7.4	.830
difference:	+1	+5.0	+2.1	+3.3	+4.8	+8.1	+1.3	+0.8	+1.6	-1.0	-0.4	+1.3		+.063				+0.3	+3.1	+.276
Shaquille O'Neal	81	39.8	29.3	4.7	8.5	13.2	2.4	0.9	2.9	2.7	3.5	11.8	19.6	.599	0.0	0.0	-	5.8	10.5	.554

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	6	37.8	33.2	1.8	3.8	5.7	3.2	1.0	2.7	3.2	3.8	13.0	23.7	.549	-	-	-	7.2	9.3	.768
difference:	+3	+4.2	+12.5	+3.9	+3.9	+7.6	+0.9	+0.3	+0.3	-0.1	-0.5	+5.3	+8.7	+.038				+1.9	+2.0	+.297
Shaquille O'Neal	3	42.0	20.7	5.7	7.7	13.3	2.3	0.7	3.0	3.3	4.3	7.7	15.0	.511	0.0	0.0	-	5.3	11.3	.471


Season 3
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1978-79	1994-95
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	Scoring Leader	Scoring Leader
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Spurs Lost East Conf Finals	Magic Lost NBA 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		%
George Gervin	80	36.1	29.6	1.8	3.2	5.0	2.7	1.7	1.1	3.6	3.4	11.8	21.9	.541	-	-	-	5.9	7.1	.826
difference:	+1	+0.9	+0.3	+2.4	+4.1	+6.4		+0.8	+1.3	-1.0	-0.1		+1.7	+.042				+0.1	+3.7	+.293
Shaquille O'Neal	79	37.0	29.3	4.2	7.3	11.4	2.7	0.9	2.4	2.6	3.3	11.8	20.2	.583	0.0	0.1	.000	5.8	10.8	.533

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	14	36.6	28.6	2.4	3.5	5.9	2.5	1.9	1.0	2.9	3.6	11.3	21.1	.536	-	-	-	6.0	7.4	.808
difference:	+7	+1.7	+2.9	+2.1	+3.9	+6.0	+0.8	+1.0	+0.9	-0.6	-0.4	+2.0	+5.0	+.041				+1.1	+5.0	+.237
Shaquille O'Neal	21	38.3	25.7	4.5	7.4	11.9	3.3	0.9	1.9	3.5	4.0	9.3	16.1	.577	0.0	0.0	-	7.1	12.4	.571


Season 4
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1979-80	1995-96
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Third Team
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
	All-Star Game MVP	-
Playoffs	Spurs Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Magic Lost East Conf Finals

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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		%
George Gervin	78	37.6	33.1	2.0	3.2	5.2	2.6	1.4	1.0	3.3	2.7	13.1	24.9	.528	0.4	1.3	.314	6.5	7.6	.852
difference:	+24	+1.6	+6.5	+1.4	+4.5	+5.8	+0.3	+0.8	+1.1	-0.4	-0.9	+2.1	+5.8	+.045	+0.4	+1.3		+1.9	+1.9	+.365
Shaquille O'Neal	54	36.0	26.6	3.4	7.7	11.0	2.9	0.6	2.1	2.9	3.6	11.0	19.1	.573	0.0	0.0	-	4.6	9.5	.487

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	3	40.7	33.3	3.0	3.7	6.7	4.0	1.7	1.0	3.0	2.7	12.3	24.7	.500	0.0	0.7	.000	8.7	10.0	.867
difference:	+9	+2.4	+7.5	+1.1	+2.2	+3.3	+0.6	+0.9	+0.3	-0.7	-0.6	+1.4	+6.7	+.106		+0.7		+4.7	+0.2	+.474
Shaquille O'Neal	12	38.3	25.8	4.1	5.9	10.0	4.6	0.8	1.3	3.7	3.3	10.9	18.0	.606	0.0	0.0	-	4.0	10.2	.393


Season 5
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1980-81	1996-97
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Spurs Lost West Conf Semis	Lakers Lost West 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		%
George Gervin	82	33.7	27.1	1.5	3.6	5.1	3.2	1.1	0.7	3.1	2.6	10.4	21.1	.492	0.1	0.4	.257	6.2	7.6	.826
difference:	+31	+4.4	+0.9	+2.3	+5.1	+7.4	+0.1	+0.2	+2.2	-0.2	-0.9	+0.4	+1.7	+.065	+0.1	+0.3	+.257	+1.7	+1.8	+.342
Shaquille O'Neal	51	38.1	26.2	3.8	8.7	12.5	3.1	0.9	2.9	2.9	3.5	10.8	19.4	.557	0.0	0.1	.000	4.5	9.4	.484

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	7	39.1	27.1	1.3	3.7	5.0	3.4	0.7	0.7	2.9	2.7	11.0	22.0	.500	0.0	0.4	.000	5.1	6.4	.800
difference:	+2	+2.9	+0.2	+2.9	+2.6	+5.6	+0.2	+0.1	+1.2	-0.5	-1.4	+1.1	+2.8	+.014		+0.4		+2.0	+5.3	+.190
Shaquille O'Neal	9	36.2	26.9	4.2	6.3	10.6	3.2	0.6	1.9	2.4	4.1	9.9	19.2	.514	0.0	0.0	-	7.1	11.7	.610


Season 6
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1981-82	1997-98
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	All-NBA First Team
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Spurs Lost West Conf Finals	Lakers Lost West Conf Finals

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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		%
George Gervin	79	35.7	32.3	1.7	3.2	5.0	2.4	1.0	0.6	2.7	2.7	12.6	25.2	.500	0.1	0.5	.278	7.0	8.1	.864
difference:	+19	+0.6	+4.0	+1.8	+4.7	+6.4		+0.3	+1.8	-0.2	-0.5	+1.4	+6.1	+.084	+0.1	+0.5		+1.0	+3.3	+.337
Shaquille O'Neal	60	36.3	28.3	3.5	7.9	11.4	2.4	0.7	2.4	2.9	3.2	11.2	19.1	.584	0.0	0.0	-	6.0	11.4	.527

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	9	41.4	29.4	2.1	5.2	7.3	4.6	1.1	0.4	3.4	4.0	11.4	25.3	.452	0.0	0.3	.000	6.6	7.9	.831
difference:	+4	+2.9	+1.1	+1.6	+1.3	+2.9	+1.7	+0.6	+2.2	-0.1	-0.8	+0.8	+5.5	+.160		+0.3		+0.4	+4.3	+.328
Shaquille O'Neal	13	38.5	30.5	3.7	6.5	10.2	2.9	0.5	2.6	3.3	3.2	12.2	19.8	.612	0.0	0.0	-	6.2	12.2	.503


Season 7
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1982-83	1998-99
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	All-NBA Second Team
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Spurs Lost West Conf Finals	Lakers Lost West Conf Semis

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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		%
George Gervin	78	36.3	26.2	1.4	3.2	4.6	3.4	1.1	0.9	3.2	3.1	9.7	19.9	.487	0.2	0.4	.364	6.6	7.8	.853
difference:	+29	+1.5	+0.1	+2.4	+3.7	+6.1	+1.1	+0.4	+0.8	-0.7	-0.1	+0.7	+1.8	+.089	+0.2	+0.4		+1.1	+2.4	+.313
Shaquille O'Neal	49	34.8	26.3	3.8	6.9	10.7	2.3	0.7	1.7	2.5	3.2	10.4	18.1	.576	0.0	0.0	-	5.5	10.2	.540

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	11	39.7	25.2	1.9	4.8	6.7	3.4	1.1	0.4	4.2	3.5	9.8	18.9	.519	0.0	0.2	.000	5.5	6.3	.884
difference:	+3	+0.3	+1.4	+3.6	+1.3	+4.9	+1.1	+0.2	+2.5	-1.9	-0.1	+0.1	+0.5	+.009		+0.2		+1.4	+8.5	+.418
Shaquille O'Neal	8	39.4	26.6	5.5	6.1	11.6	2.3	0.9	2.9	2.3	3.6	9.9	19.4	.510	0.0	0.0	-	6.9	14.8	.466


Season 8
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1983-84	1999-00
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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		%
George Gervin	76	34.0	25.9	1.4	2.7	4.1	2.9	1.0	0.6	2.9	2.9	10.1	20.5	.490	0.1	0.3	.417	5.6	6.7	.842
difference:	+3	+6.0	+3.8	+2.9	+6.7	+9.5	+0.9	+0.5	+2.4	-0.1	-0.3	+2.0	+0.6	+.084	+0.1	+0.3		+0.1	+3.7	+.318
Shaquille O'Neal	79	40.0	29.7	4.3	9.4	13.6	3.8	0.5	3.0	2.8	3.2	12.1	21.1	.574	0.0	0.0	-	5.5	10.4	.524

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shaquille O'Neal	23	43.5	30.7	5.2	10.3	15.4	3.1	0.6	2.4	2.4	2.9	12.4	22.0	.566	0.0	0.0	-	5.9	12.9	.456


Season 9
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1984-85	2000-01
Team	San Antonio Spurs	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Spurs Lost West Conf 1st Rd	NBA Champion

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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		%
George Gervin	72	29.0	21.2	1.1	2.2	3.3	2.5	0.9	0.7	2.8	2.9	8.3	16.4	.508	0.0	0.1	.000	4.5	5.3	.844
difference:	+2	+10.5	+7.5	+2.8	+6.6	+9.4	+1.2	+0.3	+2.1	-0.1	-0.6	+2.7	+2.8	+.064		+0.1		+2.2	+7.8	+.331
Shaquille O'Neal	74	39.5	28.7	3.9	8.8	12.7	3.7	0.6	2.8	2.9	3.5	11.0	19.2	.572	0.0	0.0	-	6.7	13.1	.513

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	5	36.6	22.2	0.6	3.0	3.6	2.8	0.6	0.6	4.0	3.8	8.4	15.8	.532	0.0	0.6	.000	5.4	6.8	.794
difference:	+11	+5.7	+8.2	+5.1	+6.8	+11.8	+0.4	+0.2	+1.8	-0.4	-0.4	+3.5	+5.7	+.023		+0.6		+1.2	+5.7	+.269
Shaquille O'Neal	16	42.3	30.4	5.7	9.8	15.4	3.2	0.4	2.4	3.6	3.4	11.9	21.5	.555	0.0	0.0	-	6.6	12.5	.525


Season 10
	George Gervin	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1985-86	2001-02
Team	Chicago Bulls	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Bulls Lost East Conf 1st Rd	NBA Champion

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10th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	82	25.2	16.2	1.0	1.7	2.6	1.8	0.6	0.3	2.0	2.6	6.3	13.4	.472	0.0	0.2	.211	3.5	3.9	.879
difference:	+15	+10.9	+11.0	+2.5	+5.5	+8.1	+1.2		+1.7	-0.6	-0.4	+4.3	+4.9	+.107		+0.2		+2.4	+6.8	+.324
Shaquille O'Neal	67	36.1	27.2	3.5	7.2	10.7	3.0	0.6	2.0	2.6	3.0	10.6	18.3	.579	0.0	0.0	-	5.9	10.7	.555

Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Gervin	2	5.5	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.5	0.0	0.5	.000	0.0	0.0	-	0.0	0.0	-
difference:	+17	+35.3	+28.5	+3.5	+8.6	+12.1	+2.3	+0.5	+2.5	-2.3	-1.8	+10.7	+19.7	+.529				+7.1	+10.9
Shaquille O'Neal	19	40.8	28.5	3.5	9.1	12.6	2.8	0.5	2.5	3.3	3.3	10.7	20.2	.529	0.0	0.0	-	7.1	10.9	.649


Additional Years
* Shaquille O'Neal played 9 seasons more than George Gervin in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 11 to 19, from 2003 to 2011—Shaquille O'Neal played in 8 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 9 extra years over George Gervin, Shaquille O'Neal got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	4 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 1 All-Defensive Second Team 6 All-Star Game 2 All-Star Game MVP

George Gervin vs. Shaquille O'Neal Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Shaquille O'Neal and George Gervin, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Their Careers

Comparison Season by Season

Rookie Season

Rookie Season Stats Comparison

Season 2

2nd Season Stats Comparison

Season 3

3rd Season Stats Comparison

Season 4

4th Season Stats Comparison

Season 5

5th Season Stats Comparison

Season 6

6th Season Stats Comparison

Season 7

7th Season Stats Comparison

Season 8

8th Season Stats Comparison

Season 9

9th Season Stats Comparison

Season 10

10th Season Stats Comparison

Additional Years