Isiah Thomas vs. Franz Wagner Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Franz Wagner and Isiah Thomas, 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.

Isiah Thomas played 13 years in the NBA, 9 more than Franz Wagner, who played 4. Isiah Thomas had the first of his seasons in 1981-82, 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
	Isiah Thomas	Franz Wagner
Season	1981-82	2021-22
Team	Detroit Pistons	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Isiah Thomas	72	33.8	17.0	0.8	2.1	2.9	7.8	2.1	0.2	4.2	3.5	6.3	14.8	.424	0.2	0.8	.288	4.2	6.0	.704
difference:	+7	+3.1	+1.8	+0.3	+1.3	+1.6	+4.9	+1.2	+0.2	-2.7	-1.4	+0.5	+2.5	+.044	+1.0	+2.6	+.066	+1.8	+3.2	+.159
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
* Neiher Isiah Thomas nor Franz Wagner played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Isiah Thomas	Franz Wagner
Season	1982-83	2022-23
Team	Detroit Pistons	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Isiah Thomas	81	38.2	22.9	1.3	2.8	4.0	7.8	2.5	0.4	4.0	3.9	9.0	19.0	.472	0.4	1.5	.288	4.5	6.4	.710
difference:	+1	+5.6	+4.3	+0.4	+0.4	+0.1	+4.3	+1.5	+0.2	-1.9	-1.6	+2.2	+5.0	+.013	+1.2	+3.0	+.073	+1.1	+2.4	+.132
Franz Wagner	80	32.6	18.6	0.9	3.2	4.1	3.5	1.0	0.2	2.1	2.3	6.8	14.0	.485	1.6	4.5	.361	3.4	4.0	.842
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Isiah Thomas nor Franz Wagner played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	Isiah Thomas	Franz Wagner
Season	1983-84	2023-24
Team	Detroit Pistons	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game MVP	-
Playoffs	Pistons Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Isiah Thomas	82	36.7	21.3	1.3	2.7	4.0	11.1	2.5	0.4	3.7	4.0	8.2	17.7	.462	0.3	0.8	.338	4.7	6.5	.733
difference:	+10	+4.2	+1.6	+0.3	+1.6	+1.3	+7.4	+1.4		-1.8	-1.7	+0.9	+2.5	+.020	+1.0	+3.8	+.057	+0.9	+2.1	+.117
Franz Wagner	72	32.5	19.7	1.0	4.3	5.3	3.7	1.1	0.4	1.9	2.3	7.3	15.2	.482	1.3	4.6	.281	3.8	4.4	.850
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Isiah Thomas	5	39.6	21.4	1.4	2.4	3.8	11.0	2.6	1.2	4.6	4.4	7.8	16.6	.470	0.4	1.2	.333	5.4	7.0	.771
difference:	+2	+2.6	+2.5		+3.0	+3.1	+6.6	+1.9	+0.1	-3.3	-1.5	+1.8	+1.9	+.062	+0.9	+3.7	+.068	+0.2	+0.7	+.115
Franz Wagner	7	37.0	18.9	1.4	5.4	6.9	4.4	0.7	1.3	1.3	2.9	6.0	14.7	.408	1.3	4.9	.265	5.6	6.3	.886

Season 4
	Isiah Thomas	Franz Wagner
Season	1984-85	2024-25
Team	Detroit Pistons	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Assists Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Pistons Lost East Conf Semis	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		%
Isiah Thomas	81	38.1	21.2	1.4	3.0	4.5	13.9	2.3	0.3	3.7	3.6	8.0	17.4	.458	0.4	1.4	.257	4.9	6.1	.809
difference:	+21	+4.4	+3.0	+0.5	+1.8	+1.2	+9.2	+1.0	+0.1	-1.4	-1.1	+1.0	+2.0	+.005	+1.3	+4.5	+.038	+0.4	+0.9	+.062
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		%
Isiah Thomas	9	39.4	24.3	1.2	4.0	5.2	11.2	2.1	0.4	3.3	4.3	9.2	18.4	.500	0.7	1.7	.400	5.2	6.9	.758
difference:	+4	+0.4	+1.5	+0.6	+0.2	+0.4	+5.6	+0.9		-1.3	-1.1	+1.0	+4.6	+.057	+0.7	+5.7	+.211	+1.2	+1.7	+.011
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

Additional Years
* Isiah Thomas played 9 seasons more than Franz Wagner in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 13, from 1986 to 1994—Isiah Thomas played in 7 Playoffs and won two NBA Championships. In those 9 extra years over Franz Wagner, Isiah Thomas got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 1 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 8 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP