John Thomas vs. Nate Thurmond Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Nate Thurmond and John 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.

John Thomas played 5 years in the NBA, 9 less than Nate Thurmond, who played 14. John Thomas had the first of his seasons in 1997-98, while Nate Thurmond had his rookie season in 1963-64. 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: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14
Rookie Season
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	1997-98	1963-64
Team	Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Warriors Lost NBA 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		%
John Thomas	54	9.9	2.8	0.9	1.1	2.0	0.3	0.4	0.2	0.9	1.8	1.0	2.1	.487	0.0	0.0	-	0.8	1.0	.759
Nate Thurmond	76	25.9	7.0	-	-	10.4	1.1	-	-	-	2.4	2.9	7.3	.395	-	-	-	1.3	2.3	.549
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	12	34.2	10.0	-	-	12.3	0.8	-	-	-	3.8	3.5	8.0	.438	-	-	-	3.0	4.4	.679

Season 2
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	1998-99	1964-65
Team	Toronto Raptors	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
John Thomas	39	15.2	4.3	1.7	1.8	3.4	0.4	0.4	0.2	0.5	2.1	1.8	3.2	.577	0.0	0.0	.000	0.7	1.2	.563
Nate Thurmond	77	41.2	16.5	-	-	18.1	2.0	-	-	-	3.0	6.7	16.1	.419	-	-	-	3.1	4.6	.658
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	1999-00	1965-66
Team	Toronto Raptors	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Raptors Lost East Conf 1st Rd	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		%
John Thomas	55	8.7	2.1	0.7	0.7	1.4	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	1.9	0.9	1.9	.458	0.0	0.0	.000	0.3	0.7	.390
Nate Thurmond	73	39.6	16.3	-	-	18.0	1.5	-	-	-	3.1	6.2	15.3	.406	-	-	-	3.8	5.9	.654
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	1	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	-	0.0	0.0	-	0.0	0.0	-
Nate Thurmond	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: John Thomas didn't play in 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04.

Season 4
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	2004-05	1966-67
Team	Minnesota Timberwolves	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Warriors Lost NBA 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		%
John Thomas	44	11.8	2.5	0.9	1.3	2.2	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.4	1.9	1.0	2.0	.488	0.0	0.0	-	0.6	1.0	.587
Nate Thurmond	65	42.5	18.7	-	-	21.3	2.6	-	-	-	2.8	7.2	16.4	.437	-	-	-	4.3	6.8	.629
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	15	46.0	15.9	-	-	23.1	3.1	-	-	-	3.5	6.2	14.3	.433	-	-	-	3.5	6.1	.571

Season 5
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	2005-06	1967-68
Team	Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, New Jersey Nets	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Nets Lost East Conf Semis	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		%
John Thomas	16	7.9	0.9	0.6	0.6	1.3	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.5	1.1	0.4	0.9	.400	0.0	0.0	-	0.2	0.3	.750
Nate Thurmond	51	43.6	20.5	-	-	22.0	4.2	-	-	-	2.7	7.5	18.2	.411	-	-	-	5.5	8.6	.644
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	8	7.0	0.9	0.5	0.8	1.3	0.3	0.4	0.1	0.6	1.9	0.4	0.8	.500	0.0	0.0	-	0.1	0.3	.500
Nate Thurmond	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	-	1968-69
Team	-	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive First Team
Playoffs	-	Warriors Lost West Div 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		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	71	45.2	21.5	-	-	19.7	3.6	-	-	-	2.4	8.0	19.6	.410	-	-	-	5.4	8.7	.615
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	6	43.8	16.7	-	-	19.5	4.7	-	-	-	3.0	6.7	17.0	.392	-	-	-	3.3	5.7	.588

Season 7
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	-	1969-70
Team	-	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	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		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	43	44.6	21.9	-	-	17.7	3.5	-	-	-	2.6	7.9	19.2	.414	-	-	-	6.1	8.0	.754
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 8
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	-	1970-71
Team	-	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive First Team
Playoffs	-	Warriors 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		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	82	40.9	20.0	-	-	13.8	3.1	-	-	-	2.3	7.6	17.1	.445	-	-	-	4.8	6.6	.730
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	5	38.4	17.6	-	-	10.2	3.0	-	-	-	4.0	7.2	19.4	.371	-	-	-	3.2	4.0	.800

Season 9
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	-	1971-72
Team	-	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive Second Team
Playoffs	-	Warriors 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		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	78	43.1	21.4	-	-	16.1	2.9	-	-	-	2.7	8.1	18.6	.432	-	-	-	5.3	7.2	.743
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	5	46.0	25.4	-	-	17.8	5.2	-	-	-	2.4	10.6	24.4	.434	-	-	-	4.2	5.6	.750

Season 10
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	-	1972-73
Team	-	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Warriors 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		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	79	43.3	17.1	-	-	17.1	3.5	-	-	-	3.0	6.5	14.7	.446	-	-	-	4.0	5.6	.718
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	11	41.8	14.5	-	-	13.2	3.6	-	-	-	2.7	5.8	14.6	.398	-	-	-	2.9	3.6	.800

Season 11
	John Thomas	Nate Thurmond
Season	-	1973-74
Team	-	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	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		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	62	39.7	13.0	4.0	10.1	14.2	2.7	0.7	2.9	-	2.9	5.0	11.2	.444	-	-	-	3.1	4.6	.666
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
John Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nate Thurmond	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-