Jerry Lucas vs. Shaquille O'Neal Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Shaquille O'Neal and Jerry Lucas, 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.

Jerry Lucas played 11 years in the NBA, 8 less than Shaquille O'Neal, who played 19. Jerry Lucas had the first of his seasons in 1963-64, 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.

Rookie Season
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1963-64	1992-93
Team	Cincinnati Royals	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	Rookie of the Year	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Royals Lost East Div Finals	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		%
Jerry Lucas	79	41.4	17.7	-	-	17.4	2.6	-	-	-	3.8	6.9	13.1	.527	-	-	-	3.9	5.0	.779
difference:	+2	+3.5	+5.7			+3.5	+0.7				-0.2	+2.1	+3.0	+.035				+1.4	+3.9	+.187
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		%
Jerry Lucas	10	37.0	12.2	-	-	12.5	3.4	-	-	-	3.7	4.8	12.3	.390	-	-	-	2.6	3.7	.703
Shaquille O'Neal	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1964-65	1993-94
Team	Cincinnati Royals	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
	All-Star Game MVP	-
Playoffs	Royals Lost East Div 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		%
Jerry Lucas	66	43.4	21.4	-	-	20.0	2.4	-	-	-	3.2	8.5	17.0	.498	-	-	-	4.5	5.5	.814
difference:	+15	+3.6	+7.9			+6.8					-0.3	+3.3	+2.6	+.101				+1.3	+5.0	+.260
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		%
Jerry Lucas	4	48.8	23.3	-	-	21.0	2.3	-	-	-	3.0	9.5	18.8	.507	-	-	-	4.3	5.5	.773
difference:	+1	+6.8	+2.6			+7.7					-1.3	+1.8	+3.8	+.004				+1.0	+5.8	+.302
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
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1965-66	1994-95
Team	Cincinnati Royals	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Royals Lost East Div Semis	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		%
Jerry Lucas	79	44.5	21.5	-	-	21.1	2.7	-	-	-	3.5	8.7	19.3	.453	-	-	-	4.0	5.1	.787
difference:		+7.5	+7.8			+9.7					-0.2	+3.1	+0.9	+.130				+1.8	+5.7	+.254
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		%
Jerry Lucas	5	46.2	21.4	-	-	20.2	2.8	-	-	-	2.8	8.0	17.0	.471	-	-	-	5.4	7.0	.771
difference:	+16	+7.9	+4.3			+8.3	+0.5				-1.2	+1.3	+0.9	+.106				+1.7	+5.4	+.200
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
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1966-67	1995-96
Team	Cincinnati Royals	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Royals Lost East Div Semis	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		%
Jerry Lucas	81	43.9	17.8	-	-	19.1	3.3	-	-	-	3.5	7.1	15.5	.459	-	-	-	3.5	4.4	.791
difference:	+27	+7.9	+8.8			+8.1	+0.4				-0.1	+3.9	+3.6	+.114				+1.1	+5.1	+.304
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		%
Jerry Lucas	4	45.8	12.5	-	-	19.3	2.0	-	-	-	3.8	6.0	13.8	.436	-	-	-	0.5	0.5	1.000
difference:	+8	+7.5	+13.3			+9.3	+2.6				-0.5	+4.9	+4.2	+.170				+3.5	+9.7	+.607
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
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1967-68	1996-97
Team	Cincinnati Royals	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Jerry Lucas	82	44.1	21.5	-	-	19.0	3.1	-	-	-	3.0	8.6	16.6	.519	-	-	-	4.2	5.4	.778
difference:	+31	+6.0	+4.7			+6.5					-0.5	+2.2	+2.8	+.038				+0.3	+4.0	+.294
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		%
Jerry Lucas	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1968-69	1997-98
Team	Cincinnati Royals	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Jerry Lucas	74	41.6	18.3	-	-	18.4	4.1	-	-	-	2.8	7.5	13.6	.551	-	-	-	3.3	4.4	.755
difference:	+14	+5.3	+10.0			+7.0	+1.7				-0.4	+3.7	+5.5	+.033				+2.7	+7.0	+.228
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		%
Jerry Lucas	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1969-70	1998-99
Team	Cincinnati Royals, San Francisco Warriors	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Jerry Lucas	67	36.1	15.1	-	-	14.2	2.6	-	-	-	2.4	6.0	11.9	.507	-	-	-	3.0	3.8	.784
difference:	+18	+1.3	+11.2			+3.5	+0.3				-0.8	+4.4	+6.2	+.069				+2.5	+6.4	+.244
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		%
Jerry Lucas	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1970-71	1999-00
Team	San Francisco Warriors	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	Warriors Lost West Conf Semis	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		%
Jerry Lucas	80	40.6	19.2	-	-	15.8	3.7	-	-	-	2.5	7.8	15.6	.498	-	-	-	3.6	4.6	.787
difference:	+1	+0.6	+10.5			+2.2	+0.1				-0.7	+4.3	+5.5	+.076				+1.9	+5.8	+.263
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		%
Jerry Lucas	5	34.2	17.8	-	-	10.0	3.2	-	-	-	2.8	7.8	15.4	.506	-	-	-	2.2	3.2	.688
difference:	+18	+9.3	+12.9			+5.4	+0.1				-0.1	+4.6	+6.6	+.060				+3.7	+9.7	+.232
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
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1971-72	2000-01
Team	New York Knicks	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Knicks Lost NBA Finals	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		%
Jerry Lucas	77	38.0	16.7	-	-	13.1	4.1	-	-	-	2.8	7.1	13.8	.512	-	-	-	2.6	3.2	.791
difference:	+3	+1.5	+12.0			+0.4	+0.4				-0.7	+3.9	+5.4	+.060				+4.1	+9.9	+.278
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		%
Jerry Lucas	16	46.1	18.6	-	-	10.8	5.3	-	-	-	3.1	7.4	14.9	.500	-	-	-	3.7	4.4	.831
difference:		+3.8	+11.8			+4.6	+2.1				-0.3	+4.5	+6.6	+.055				+2.9	+8.1	+.306
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
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1972-73	2001-02
Team	New York Knicks	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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		%
Jerry Lucas	71	28.2	9.9	-	-	7.2	4.5	-	-	-	2.2	4.4	8.6	.513	-	-	-	1.1	1.4	.800
difference:	+4	+7.9	+17.3			+3.5	+1.5				-0.8	+6.2	+9.7	+.066				+4.8	+9.3	+.245
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		%
Jerry Lucas	17	21.6	7.5	-	-	5.0	2.3	-	-	-	2.8	3.2	6.6	.482	-	-	-	1.2	1.4	.870
difference:	+2	+19.2	+21.0			+7.6	+0.5				-0.5	+7.5	+13.6	+.047				+5.9	+9.5	+.221
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

Season 11
	Jerry Lucas	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	1973-74	2002-03
Team	New York Knicks	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Knicks Lost East Conf Finals	Lakers Lost West Conf Semis

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11th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jerry Lucas	73	22.3	6.2	0.8	4.3	5.1	3.2	0.4	0.3	-	1.8	2.7	5.8	.462	-	-	-	0.9	1.3	.698
difference:	+6	+15.5	+21.3	+3.1	+2.9	+6.0	+0.1	+0.2	+2.1		-1.6	+7.7	+12.3	+.112				+5.8	+9.5	+.076
Shaquille O'Neal	67	37.8	27.5	3.9	7.2	11.1	3.1	0.6	2.4	2.9	3.4	10.4	18.1	.574	0.0	0.0	-	6.7	10.8	.622
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Jerry Lucas	11	10.5	0.9	0.5	1.5	2.0	0.8	0.4	0.0	-	0.8	0.5	1.9	.238	-	-	-	0.0	0.0	-
difference:	+1	+29.6	+26.1	+4.8	+8.1	+12.8	+2.9	+0.2	+2.8		-2.0	+9.6	+16.9	+.297				+6.8	+11.0
Shaquille O'Neal	12	40.1	27.0	5.3	9.6	14.8	3.7	0.6	2.8	2.9	2.8	10.1	18.8	.535	0.0	0.0	-	6.8	11.0	.621

Additional Years
* Shaquille O'Neal played 8 seasons more than Jerry Lucas in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 12 to 19, from 2004 to 2011—Shaquille O'Neal played in 7 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 8 extra years over Jerry Lucas, Shaquille O'Neal got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 5 All-Star Game 2 All-Star Game MVP