Kobe Bryant vs. Josh Giddey Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Josh Giddey and Kobe Bryant, 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.

Kobe Bryant played 20 years in the NBA, 16 more than Josh Giddey, who played 4. Kobe Bryant had the first of his seasons in 1996-97, while Josh Giddey 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
	Kobe Bryant	Josh Giddey
Season	1996-97	2021-22
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie Second Team	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf Semis	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		%
Kobe Bryant	71	15.5	7.6	0.7	1.2	1.9	1.3	0.7	0.3	1.6	1.4	2.5	5.9	.417	0.7	1.9	.375	1.9	2.3	.819
difference:	+17	+16.0	+4.9	+1.1	+4.8	+5.9	+5.1	+0.2	+0.1	-1.6	-0.2	+2.7	+6.5	+.002	+0.3	+2.0	+.112	+0.9	+0.8	+.110
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
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Kobe Bryant	9	14.8	8.2	0.1	1.1	1.2	1.2	0.3	0.2	1.6	2.6	2.3	6.1	.382	0.7	2.6	.261	2.9	3.3	.867
Josh Giddey	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Kobe Bryant	Josh Giddey
Season	1997-98	2022-23
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf Finals	Did Not Play

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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		%
Kobe Bryant	79	26.0	15.4	1.0	2.1	3.1	2.5	0.9	0.5	2.0	2.3	4.9	11.6	.428	0.9	2.8	.341	4.6	5.8	.794
difference:	+3	+5.2	+1.2	+0.9	+3.8	+4.8	+3.7	+0.1	+0.1	-0.8	-0.4	+2.2	+3.1	+.054	+0.1	+0.3	+.016	+3.2	+3.9	+.063
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
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Kobe Bryant	11	20.2	8.7	0.6	1.3	1.9	1.5	0.3	0.7	1.0	2.5	2.8	6.9	.408	0.3	1.3	.214	2.8	4.1	.689
Josh Giddey	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Kobe Bryant	Josh Giddey
Season	1998-99	2023-24
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Oklahoma City Thunder
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf Semis	Thunder Lost West Conf Semis

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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		%
Kobe Bryant	50	37.9	19.9	1.1	4.2	5.3	3.8	1.4	1.0	3.1	3.1	7.2	15.6	.465	0.5	2.0	.267	4.9	5.8	.839
difference:	+30	+12.8	+7.6	+0.3	+0.8	+1.1	+1.0	+0.7	+0.4	-1.0	-1.7	+2.2	+5.0	+.010	+0.5	+1.0	+.070	+3.6	+4.2	+.033
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
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Kobe Bryant	8	39.6	19.8	1.6	5.3	6.9	4.6	1.9	1.3	3.9	3.0	7.6	17.8	.430	1.0	2.9	.348	3.5	4.4	.800
difference:	+2	+21.5	+11.1	+0.9	+2.4	+3.3	+2.5	+1.7	+0.9	-2.7	-2.1	+4.2	+10.3	+.023	+0.2	+0.5	+.005	+2.8	+3.6	+.075
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

Season 4
	Kobe Bryant	Josh Giddey
Season	1999-00	2024-25
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Defensive First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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		%
Kobe Bryant	66	38.2	22.5	1.6	4.7	6.3	4.9	1.6	0.9	2.8	3.3	8.4	17.9	.468	0.7	2.2	.319	5.0	6.1	.821
difference:	+4	+8.0	+7.9	+0.2	+1.6	+1.8	+2.3	+0.4	+0.3	-0.1	-1.6	+3.1	+6.5	+.003	+0.8	+1.8	+.059	+2.5	+2.9	+.040
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
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Kobe Bryant	22	39.0	21.1	1.2	3.3	4.5	4.4	1.5	1.5	2.5	4.0	7.9	17.9	.442	1.0	2.9	.344	4.3	5.7	.754
Josh Giddey	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Kobe Bryant played 16 seasons more than Josh Giddey in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 20, from 2001 to 2016—Kobe Bryant played in 11 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 16 extra years over Josh Giddey, Kobe Bryant got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 11 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 8 All-Defensive First Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 2 Scoring Leader 16 All-Star Game 4 All-Star Game MVP