Karl Malone vs. Jalen Suggs Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Jalen Suggs 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, 15 more than Jalen Suggs, who played 4. Karl Malone had the first of his seasons in 1985-86, while Jalen Suggs had his rookie season in 2021-22. 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	Jalen Suggs
Season	1985-86	2021-22
Team	Utah Jazz	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First 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:	+33	+3.4	+3.1	+1.6	+3.7	+5.3	+1.5	+0.1	+0.1	-0.4	-0.6	+2.1	+1.1	+.135	+0.9	+4.1		+0.2	+1.6	+.292
Jalen Suggs	48	27.2	11.8	0.5	3.0	3.6	4.4	1.2	0.4	3.0	3.0	4.1	11.4	.361	0.9	4.1	.214	2.6	3.4	.773
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
Jalen Suggs	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Karl Malone	Jalen Suggs
Season	1987-88	2023-24
Team	Utah Jazz	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive Second Team	All-Defensive Second Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Jazz Lost West Conf Semis	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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:	+7	+12.0	+15.1	+2.8	+6.2	+8.9	+0.3			-2.2	-0.9	+6.0	+10.6	+.049	+2.0	+5.0	+.397	+5.1	+7.5	+.056
Jalen Suggs	75	27.0	12.6	0.6	2.4	3.1	2.7	1.4	0.6	1.8	2.7	4.5	9.5	.471	2.0	5.1	.397	1.6	2.1	.756
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
difference:	+4	+11.8	+15.0	+1.4	+5.2	+6.7	+1.8	+0.1	+0.2	-0.6	-0.6	+6.5	+11.5	+.080	+2.0	+6.8	+.292	+4.1	+5.9	+.044
Jalen Suggs	7	33.1	14.7	1.6	3.6	5.1	3.3	1.3	0.4	2.9	2.6	4.7	11.7	.402	2.0	6.9	.292	3.3	4.3	.767

Season 4
	Karl Malone	Jalen Suggs
Season	1988-89	2024-25
Team	Utah Jazz	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game MVP	-
Playoffs	Jazz Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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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		%
Karl Malone	80	39.1	29.1	3.2	7.4	10.7	2.7	1.8	0.9	3.6	3.6	10.1	19.5	.519	0.1	0.2	.313	8.8	11.5	.766
difference:	+45	+10.5	+12.9	+2.5	+4.0	+6.7	+1.0	+0.3		-0.7	-0.8	+4.5	+5.8	+.109	+2.1	+6.7	+.001	+6.0	+8.4	+.116
Jalen Suggs	35	28.6	16.2	0.7	3.4	4.0	3.7	1.5	0.9	2.9	2.8	5.6	13.7	.410	2.2	6.9	.314	2.8	3.1	.882
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Karl Malone	3	45.3	30.7	7.3	9.0	16.3	1.3	1.0	0.3	4.3	5.3	11.0	22.0	.500	0.0	0.0	-	8.7	10.7	.813
Jalen Suggs	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Karl Malone played 15 seasons more than Jalen Suggs in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 19, from 1990 to 2004—Karl Malone played in 15 Playoffs. In those 15 extra years over Jalen Suggs, Karl Malone got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Season MVP 10 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 3 All-Defensive First Team 12 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP