Karl Malone vs. Amen Thompson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Amen Thompson and Karl Malone, 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.

Karl Malone played 19 years in the NBA, 16 more than Amen Thompson, who played 3. Karl Malone had the first of his seasons in 1985-86, while Amen Thompson 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
	Karl Malone	Amen Thompson
Season	1985-86	2023-24
Team	Utah Jazz	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Jazz Lost West Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Karl Malone	81	30.6	14.9	2.1	6.7	8.9	2.9	1.3	0.5	3.4	3.6	6.2	12.5	.496	0.0	0.0	-	2.4	5.0	.481
difference:	+19	+8.2	+5.4	+0.3	+2.5	+2.3	+0.3		+0.1	-1.9	-1.3	+2.3	+5.3	+.040	+0.1	+0.9		+0.7	+2.5	+.203
Amen Thompson	62	22.4	9.5	2.4	4.2	6.6	2.6	1.3	0.6	1.5	2.3	3.9	7.2	.536	0.1	0.9	.138	1.7	2.5	.684
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Karl Malone	4	36.0	21.8	1.5	6.0	7.5	1.0	2.0	0.0	1.5	4.5	9.5	18.0	.528	0.0	0.0	-	2.8	6.5	.423
Amen Thompson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Karl Malone	Amen Thompson
Season	1986-87	2024-25
Team	Utah Jazz	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive First Team
Playoffs	Jazz Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Rockets Lost West 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		%
Karl Malone	82	34.8	21.7	3.4	7.0	10.4	1.9	1.3	0.7	2.9	3.9	8.9	17.3	.512	0.0	0.1	.000	3.9	6.6	.598
difference:	+13	+2.6	+7.6	+0.6	+1.6	+2.2	+1.9	+0.1	+0.6	-0.9	-1.5	+3.3	+7.2	+.045	+0.4	+1.2	+.275	+1.5	+3.0	+.086
Amen Thompson	69	32.2	14.1	2.8	5.4	8.2	3.8	1.4	1.3	2.0	2.4	5.6	10.1	.557	0.4	1.3	.275	2.4	3.6	.684
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Karl Malone	5	40.0	20.0	3.0	6.6	9.6	1.2	2.2	0.8	3.4	4.0	7.4	17.6	.420	0.0	0.0	-	5.2	7.2	.722
difference:	+2	+7.0	+4.3	+0.3	+2.5	+2.7	+2.1	+0.5	+0.1	-1.7	-1.4	+1.4	+5.5	+.074	+0.1	+0.6		+1.6	+2.1	+.028
Amen Thompson	7	33.0	15.7	2.7	4.1	6.9	3.3	1.7	0.9	1.7	2.6	6.0	12.1	.494	0.1	0.6	.250	3.6	5.1	.694

Season 3
	Karl Malone	Amen Thompson
Season	1987-88	2025-26
Team	Utah Jazz	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Jazz Lost West Conf Semis	Did not play (season in progress)

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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		%
Karl Malone	82	39.0	27.7	3.4	8.6	12.0	2.4	1.4	0.6	4.0	3.6	10.5	20.1	.520	0.0	0.1	.000	6.7	9.6	.700
difference:	+53	+2.3	+10.0	+0.7	+4.0	+4.7	+2.9	+0.1	+0.1	-1.4	-1.2	+3.4	+6.2	+.013	+0.4	+1.9	+.186	+3.5	+5.5	+.082
Amen Thompson	29	36.7	17.7	2.7	4.6	7.3	5.3	1.3	0.5	2.6	2.4	7.1	13.9	.507	0.4	2.0	.186	3.2	4.1	.782
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Karl Malone	11	44.9	29.7	3.0	8.8	11.8	1.5	1.2	0.6	3.5	3.2	11.2	23.2	.482	0.0	0.1	.000	7.4	10.2	.723
Amen Thompson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Karl Malone played 16 seasons more than Amen Thompson in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 19, from 1989 to 2004—Karl Malone played in 16 Playoffs. In those 16 extra years over Amen Thompson, Karl Malone got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Season MVP 11 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 3 All-Defensive First Team 13 All-Star Game 2 All-Star Game MVP