Hakeem Olajuwon vs. Zion Williamson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Zion Williamson and Hakeem Olajuwon, 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.

Hakeem Olajuwon played 18 years in the NBA, 13 more than Zion Williamson, who played 5. Hakeem Olajuwon had the first of his seasons in 1984-85, 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
	Hakeem Olajuwon	Zion Williamson
Season	1984-85	2019-20
Team	Houston Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets 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		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	82	35.5	20.6	5.4	6.5	11.9	1.4	1.2	2.7	2.9	4.2	8.3	15.3	.538	0.0	0.0	-	4.1	6.7	.613
difference:	+58	+7.7	+1.9	+2.7	+2.9	+5.6	+0.7	+0.5	+2.3	-0.4	-2.4	+0.5	+0.3	+.045	+0.3	+0.6		+0.7	+0.7	+.027
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		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	5	37.4	21.2	6.6	6.4	13.0	1.4	1.4	2.6	2.2	4.4	8.4	17.6	.477	0.0	0.0	-	4.4	9.2	.478
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Hakeem Olajuwon	Zion Williamson
Season	1985-86	2020-21
Team	Houston Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Rockets Lost NBA Finals	Did Not Play

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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		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	68	36.3	23.5	4.9	6.6	11.5	2.0	2.0	3.4	2.9	4.0	9.2	17.5	.526	0.0	0.0	-	5.1	7.9	.645
difference:	+7	+3.1	+3.5	+2.2	+2.1	+4.3	+1.7	+1.1	+2.8	-0.2	-1.8	+1.2	+0.5	+.085	+0.2	+0.6		+0.9	+0.8	+.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		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	20	38.3	26.9	5.1	6.8	11.8	2.0	2.0	3.5	2.2	4.4	10.3	19.4	.530	0.0	0.1	.000	6.4	10.0	.638
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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

Season 3
	Hakeem Olajuwon	Zion Williamson
Season	1986-87	2022-23
Team	Houston Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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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		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	75	36.8	23.4	4.2	7.2	11.4	2.9	1.9	3.4	3.0	3.9	9.0	17.8	.508	0.0	0.1	.200	5.3	7.6	.702
difference:	+46	+3.8	+2.6	+2.2	+2.2	+4.4	+1.7	+0.8	+2.8	-0.4	-1.7	+0.8	+1.6	+.100	+0.2	+0.6	+.168	+0.8	+1.0	+.012
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		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	10	38.9	29.2	3.9	7.4	11.3	2.5	1.3	4.3	3.6	4.4	11.0	17.9	.615	0.0	0.1	.000	7.2	9.7	.742
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Hakeem Olajuwon	Zion Williamson
Season	1987-88	2023-24
Team	Houston Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets 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		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	79	35.8	22.8	3.8	8.3	12.1	2.1	2.1	2.7	3.1	4.1	9.0	17.5	.514	0.0	0.1	.000	4.8	6.9	.695
difference:	+9	+4.3	+0.1	+2.1	+4.2	+6.3	+2.9	+1.0	+2.0	-0.3	-1.8	+0.1	+1.9	+.056	+0.1	+0.2	+.333	+0.2	+0.2	+.007
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
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	4	40.5	37.5	5.0	11.8	16.8	1.8	2.3	2.8	2.3	3.5	14.0	24.5	.571	0.0	0.3	.000	9.5	10.8	.884
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Hakeem Olajuwon	Zion Williamson
Season	1988-89	2024-25
Team	Houston Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Rebounds Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets 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		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	82	36.9	24.8	4.1	9.4	13.5	1.8	2.6	3.4	3.4	4.0	9.6	19.0	.508	0.0	0.1	.000	5.5	8.0	.696
difference:	+52	+8.3	+0.2	+1.6	+4.7	+6.3	+3.5	+1.4	+2.5	-0.4	-1.3		+2.1	+.059	+0.1	+0.3	+.231	+0.2		+.040
Zion Williamson	30	28.6	24.6	2.5	4.7	7.2	5.3	1.2	0.9	3.0	2.7	9.6	16.9	.567	0.1	0.4	.231	5.3	8.0	.656
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Hakeem Olajuwon	4	40.5	25.3	3.5	9.5	13.0	3.0	2.5	2.8	2.5	4.3	10.5	20.3	.519	0.0	0.0	-	4.3	6.3	.680
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Hakeem Olajuwon played 13 seasons more than Zion Williamson in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 18, from 1990 to 2002—Hakeem Olajuwon played in 10 Playoffs and won two NBA Championships. In those 13 extra years over Zion Williamson, Hakeem Olajuwon got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 3 All-NBA First Team 2 All-NBA Second Team 3 All-NBA Third Team 3 All-Defensive First Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 2 Defensive Player of the Year 1 Rebounds Leader 3 Blocks Leader 7 All-Star Game