George Mikan vs. Lonnie Shelton Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Lonnie Shelton and George Mikan, 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.

George Mikan played 7 years in the NBA, 3 less than Lonnie Shelton, who played 10. George Mikan had the first of his seasons in 1948-49, while Lonnie Shelton had his rookie season in 1976-77. 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 achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Rookie Season
	George Mikan	Lonnie Shelton
Season	1948-49	1976-77
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	60	-	28.3	-	-	-	3.6	-	-	-	4.3	9.7	23.4	.416	-	-	-	8.9	11.5	.772
Lonnie Shelton	82	25.7	11.6	2.7	5.0	7.7	1.8	1.5	1.2	-	4.4	4.9	10.2	.476	-	-	-	1.9	2.7	.707
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	10	-	30.3	-	-	-	2.1	-	-	-	4.4	10.3	22.7	.454	-	-	-	9.7	12.1	.802
Lonnie Shelton	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	George Mikan	Lonnie Shelton
Season	1949-50	1977-78
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	68	-	27.4	-	-	-	2.9	-	-	-	4.4	9.5	23.5	.407	-	-	-	8.3	10.7	.779
Lonnie Shelton	82	28.3	14.9	2.5	4.6	7.1	2.4	1.3	1.4	2.8	4.3	6.2	12.0	.514	-	-	-	2.5	3.4	.736
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	12	-	31.3	-	-	-	3.0	-	-	-	3.9	10.1	26.3	.383	-	-	-	11.2	14.2	.788
Lonnie Shelton	6	25.2	11.0	3.0	4.3	7.3	2.8	0.3	0.8	2.3	4.8	5.0	9.3	.536	-	-	-	1.0	1.3	.750

Season 3
	George Mikan	Lonnie Shelton
Season	1950-51	1978-79
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Seattle Supersonics
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Div Finals	NBA Champion

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	68	-	28.4	-	-	14.1	3.1	-	-	-	4.5	10.0	23.3	.428	-	-	-	8.5	10.5	.803
Lonnie Shelton	76	28.4	13.5	2.4	3.8	6.2	1.4	1.0	1.0	2.5	3.5	5.9	11.3	.519	-	-	-	1.7	2.5	.693
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	7	-	24.0	-	-	10.6	1.3	-	-	-	3.6	8.9	21.7	.408	-	-	-	6.3	7.9	.800
Lonnie Shelton	17	33.3	12.9	3.6	4.8	8.4	2.0	1.1	1.1	1.8	4.7	5.9	12.3	.483	-	-	-	1.1	1.5	.692

Season 4
	George Mikan	Lonnie Shelton
Season	1951-52	1979-80
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Seattle Supersonics
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Supersonics Lost West Conf Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	64	40.2	23.8	-	-	13.5	3.0	-	-	-	4.5	8.5	22.1	.385	-	-	-	6.8	8.7	.780
Lonnie Shelton	76	29.5	13.6	2.6	5.0	7.7	1.9	1.2	1.0	2.2	3.8	5.6	10.6	.530	0.0	0.1	.200	2.4	3.2	.763
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	13	42.5	23.6	-	-	15.9	2.8	-	-	-	4.8	7.6	20.1	.379	-	-	-	8.4	10.6	.790
Lonnie Shelton	15	31.3	12.0	2.3	6.0	8.3	1.7	1.5	0.8	2.5	3.6	4.9	9.7	.507	0.0	0.1	.000	2.1	3.4	.627

Season 5
	George Mikan	Lonnie Shelton
Season	1952-53	1980-81
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Seattle Supersonics
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game NVP	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	70	37.9	20.6	-	-	14.4	2.9	-	-	-	4.1	7.1	17.9	.399	-	-	-	6.3	8.1	.780
Lonnie Shelton	14	31.4	13.0	2.2	3.4	5.6	2.5	1.6	0.2	2.9	3.4	5.2	12.4	.420	0.0	0.0	-	2.6	3.9	.655
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	12	38.6	19.8	-	-	15.4	1.9	-	-	-	4.7	6.5	17.8	.366	-	-	-	6.8	9.3	.732
Lonnie Shelton	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	George Mikan	Lonnie Shelton
Season	1953-54	1981-82
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Seattle Supersonics
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Supersonics Lost West Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	72	32.8	18.1	-	-	14.3	2.4	-	-	-	3.7	6.1	16.1	.380	-	-	-	5.9	7.6	.777
Lonnie Shelton	81	32.9	14.9	2.0	4.3	6.3	3.1	1.2	0.5	2.5	3.9	6.3	12.9	.486	0.0	0.1	.000	2.3	3.0	.783
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
George Mikan	13	32.6	19.4	-	-	13.2	1.9	-	-	-	4.3	6.7	14.6	.458	-	-	-	6.0	7.4	.813
Lonnie Shelton	8	33.3	12.8	3.0	4.4	7.4	2.0	0.6	0.9	2.5	4.8	5.0	10.6	.471	0.0	0.0	-	2.8	4.0	.688

Note: George Mikan didn't play in 1954-55.