Joel Embiid vs. Dereck Lively II Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Dereck Lively II and Joel Embiid, 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.

Joel Embiid played 9 years in the NBA, 7 more than Dereck Lively II, who played 2. Joel Embiid had the first of his seasons in 2016-17, while Dereck Lively II had his rookie season in 2023-24. 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
	Joel Embiid	Dereck Lively II
Season	2016-17	2023-24
Team	Philadelphia 76ers	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Mavericks Lost NBA Finals

more >>

Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Joel Embiid	31	25.4	20.2	2.0	5.9	7.8	2.1	0.9	2.5	3.8	3.6	6.5	13.8	.466	1.2	3.2	.367	6.2	7.9	.783
difference:	+24	+1.9	+11.4	+0.5	+1.5	+0.9	+1.0	+0.2	+1.1	-2.9	-1.0	+2.5	+8.4	+.281	+1.2	+3.2		+5.5	+6.4	+.277
Dereck Lively II	55	23.5	8.8	2.5	4.4	6.9	1.1	0.7	1.4	0.9	2.6	4.0	5.4	.747	0.0	0.0	-	0.7	1.5	.506
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Joel Embiid	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dereck Lively II	21	22.0	7.9	2.7	4.7	7.4	1.3	0.4	1.0	1.0	2.3	3.0	4.5	.674	0.0	0.0	-	1.7	2.9	.590

Season 2
	Joel Embiid	Dereck Lively II
Season	2017-18	2024-25
Team	Philadelphia 76ers	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	76ers Lost East Conf Semis	Did Not Play

more >>

2nd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Joel Embiid	63	30.3	22.9	2.3	8.7	11.0	3.2	0.6	1.8	3.7	3.3	8.1	16.8	.483	1.0	3.4	.308	5.7	7.4	.769
difference:	+27	+7.2	+14.2	+0.6	+4.1	+3.5	+0.8		+0.2	-2.6	-0.5	+4.4	+11.5	+.219	+1.0	+3.4		+4.4	+5.4	+.139
Dereck Lively II	36	23.1	8.7	2.9	4.6	7.5	2.4	0.6	1.6	1.1	2.8	3.7	5.3	.702	0.0	0.0	-	1.3	2.0	.630
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Joel Embiid	8	34.8	21.4	2.9	9.8	12.6	3.0	0.9	1.8	3.6	3.9	7.5	17.3	.435	1.0	3.6	.276	5.4	7.6	.705
Dereck Lively II	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Joel Embiid played 7 seasons more than Dereck Lively II in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 3 to 9, from 2019 to 2025—Joel Embiid played in 6 Playoffs. In those 7 extra years over Dereck Lively II, Joel Embiid got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Season MVP 1 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Defensive Second Team 2 Scoring Leader 6 All-Star Game