LaMelo Ball vs. Chris Mullin Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Chris Mullin and LaMelo Ball, 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.

LaMelo Ball played 6 years in the NBA, 10 less than Chris Mullin, who played 16. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Chris Mullin had his rookie season in 1985-86. 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
	LaMelo Ball	Chris Mullin
Season	2020-21	1985-86
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
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		%
LaMelo Ball	51	28.8	15.7	1.2	4.7	5.9	6.1	1.6	0.4	2.8	2.7	5.7	13.2	.436	1.8	5.1	.352	2.5	3.2	.758
difference:	+4	+3.5	+1.7	+0.4	+3.4	+3.8	+4.2	+0.3		-1.4	-0.3	+0.5	+1.9	+.027	+1.7	+4.6	+.167	+0.9	+0.6	+.138
Chris Mullin	55	25.3	14.0	0.8	1.3	2.1	1.9	1.3	0.4	1.4	2.4	5.2	11.3	.463	0.1	0.5	.185	3.4	3.8	.896
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Chris Mullin played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Chris Mullin
Season	2021-22	1986-87
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did not play	Warriors Lost West Conf Semis

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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		%
LaMelo Ball	75	32.3	20.1	1.4	5.2	6.7	7.6	1.6	0.4	3.3	3.2	7.2	16.7	.429	2.9	7.5	.389	2.8	3.2	.872
difference:	+7	+3.3	+5.0	+0.9	+3.5	+4.5	+4.4	+0.4		-1.4	-0.6	+1.4	+5.4	+.085	+2.7	+6.7	+.087	+0.5	+0.8	+.047
Chris Mullin	82	29.0	15.1	0.5	1.7	2.2	3.2	1.2	0.4	1.9	2.6	5.8	11.3	.514	0.2	0.8	.302	3.3	4.0	.825
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Chris Mullin	10	26.2	11.3	0.2	1.3	1.5	2.3	0.9	0.2	1.6	3.1	4.9	9.8	.500	0.3	0.4	.750	1.2	1.6	.750

Season 4
	LaMelo Ball	Chris Mullin
Season	2023-24	1988-89
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did not play	Warriors Lost West Conf Semis

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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		%
LaMelo Ball	22	32.3	23.9	1.3	3.8	5.1	8.0	1.8	0.2	3.8	3.6	8.3	19.2	.433	3.2	9.0	.355	4.1	4.7	.865
difference:	+60	+5.4	+2.6	+0.6	+0.2	+0.8	+2.9	+0.3	+0.3	-0.2	-1.4	+1.8	+0.7	+.076	+2.9	+7.8	+.125	+1.9	+2.0	+.027
Chris Mullin	82	37.7	26.5	1.9	4.0	5.9	5.1	2.1	0.5	3.6	2.2	10.1	19.9	.509	0.3	1.2	.230	6.0	6.7	.892
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Chris Mullin	8	42.6	29.4	1.4	4.5	5.9	4.5	1.8	1.4	4.0	2.4	11.0	20.4	.540	0.1	1.0	.125	7.3	8.4	.866

Season 5
	LaMelo Ball	Chris Mullin
Season	2024-25	1989-90
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did not play	Did not play

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5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	47	32.0	25.2	1.0	3.9	4.9	7.4	1.1	0.3	3.6	3.3	8.6	21.3	.405	3.8	11.2	.339	4.1	4.9	.843
difference:	+31	+4.3	+0.1	+0.7	+0.4	+1.0	+3.3	+0.5	+0.3	-0.5	-1.5	+0.1	+5.0	+.131	+2.7	+8.2	+.033	+2.4	+2.4	+.046
Chris Mullin	78	36.3	25.1	1.7	4.3	5.9	4.1	1.6	0.6	3.1	1.8	8.7	16.3	.536	1.1	3.0	.372	6.5	7.3	.889
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Chris Mullin played in the postseason in their season 5

Season 6
	LaMelo Ball	Chris Mullin
Season	2025-26	1990-91
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did not play (season in progress)	Warriors Lost West Conf Semis

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6th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	21	28.2	19.7	1.0	4.5	5.4	8.5	1.1	0.3	3.5	3.1	6.8	16.9	.400	3.0	8.8	.342	3.2	3.7	.859
difference:	+61	+12.2	+6.0	+0.7	+0.8		+4.5	+1.0	+0.5	-0.5	-1.0	+2.7	+0.8	+.136	+2.5	+7.2	+.041	+3.1	+3.4	+.025
Chris Mullin	82	40.4	25.7	1.7	3.7	5.4	4.0	2.1	0.8	3.0	2.1	9.5	17.7	.536	0.5	1.6	.301	6.3	7.1	.884
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Chris Mullin	8	45.8	23.8	1.1	6.1	7.3	2.9	1.9	1.5	3.1	2.9	8.6	16.4	.527	1.1	1.6	.692	5.4	6.3	.860

Additional Years
* Chris Mullin played 10 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 16, from 1992 to 2001—Chris Mullin played in 5 Playoffs. In those 10 extra years over LaMelo Ball, Chris Mullin got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA First Team 2 All-Star Game