Josh Giddey vs. Shaquille O'Neal Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Shaquille O'Neal and Josh Giddey, 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.

Josh Giddey played 4 years in the NBA, 15 less than Shaquille O'Neal, who played 19. Josh Giddey had the first of his seasons in 2021-22, 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
	Josh Giddey	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2021-22	1992-93
Team	Oklahoma City Thunder	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	Rookie of the Year
	-	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Rookie Second 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		%
Josh Giddey	54	31.5	12.5	1.8	6.0	7.8	6.4	0.9	0.4	3.2	1.6	5.2	12.4	.419	1.0	3.9	.263	1.0	1.5	.709
difference:	+27	+6.4	+10.9	+2.4	+3.6	+6.1	+4.5	+0.2	+3.1	-0.6	-2.4	+3.8	+3.7	+.143	+1.0	+3.9		+4.3	+7.4	+.117
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
* Neiher Josh Giddey nor Shaquille O'Neal played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Josh Giddey	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2022-23	1993-94
Team	Oklahoma City Thunder	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Josh Giddey	76	31.2	16.6	1.9	5.9	7.9	6.2	0.8	0.4	2.8	1.9	7.1	14.7	.482	1.0	3.1	.325	1.4	1.9	.731
difference:	+5	+8.6	+12.7	+2.8	+2.6	+5.3	+3.8	+0.1	+2.5	-0.1	-1.6	+4.7	+4.9	+.117	+1.0	+3.1		+4.4	+8.6	+.177
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		%
Josh Giddey	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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
	Josh Giddey	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2023-24	1994-95
Team	Oklahoma City Thunder	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Thunder Lost West Conf 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		%
Josh Giddey	80	25.1	12.3	1.4	5.0	6.4	4.8	0.7	0.6	2.1	1.4	5.0	10.6	.475	1.0	3.0	.337	1.3	1.6	.806
difference:	+1	+11.9	+17.0	+2.8	+2.3	+5.0	+2.1	+0.2	+1.8	-0.5	-1.9	+6.8	+9.6	+.108	+1.0	+2.9	+.337	+4.5	+9.2	+.273
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		%
Josh Giddey	10	18.1	8.7	0.7	2.9	3.6	2.1	0.2	0.4	1.2	0.9	3.4	7.5	.453	1.2	3.4	.353	0.7	0.8	.875
difference:	+11	+20.2	+17.0	+3.8	+4.5	+8.3	+1.2	+0.7	+1.5	-2.3	-3.1	+5.9	+8.6	+.124	+1.2	+3.4		+6.4	+11.6	+.304
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
	Josh Giddey	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2024-25	1995-96
Team	Chicago Bulls	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Josh Giddey	70	30.2	14.6	1.8	6.3	8.1	7.2	1.2	0.6	2.9	1.7	5.3	11.4	.465	1.5	4.0	.378	2.5	3.2	.781
difference:	+16	+5.8	+12.0	+1.6	+1.4	+2.9	+4.3	+0.6	+1.5		-1.9	+5.7	+7.7	+.108	+1.5	+4.0		+2.1	+6.3	+.294
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		%
Josh Giddey	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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

Additional Years
* Shaquille O'Neal played 15 seasons more than Josh Giddey in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 19, from 1997 to 2011—Shaquille O'Neal played in 14 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 15 extra years over Josh Giddey, Shaquille O'Neal got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 8 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-NBA Third Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Scoring Leader 11 All-Star Game 3 All-Star Game MVP