LaMelo Ball vs. Darius Garland Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Darius Garland 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 and Darius Garland both played 6 years in the NBA. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Darius Garland had his rookie season in 2019-20. 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	Darius Garland
Season	2020-21	2019-20
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
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:	+8	+2.1	+3.4	+0.7	+3.3	+4.0	+2.2	+0.9	+0.3	-0.2	-1.1	+1.0	+1.4	+.035		+0.1	+.003	+1.4	+2.0	+.117
Darius Garland	59	30.9	12.3	0.5	1.4	1.9	3.9	0.7	0.1	2.6	1.6	4.7	11.8	.401	1.8	5.0	.355	1.1	1.2	.875
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Darius Garland played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Darius Garland
Season	2021-22	2020-21
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
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:	+21	+0.8	+2.7	+1.0	+3.2	+4.3	+1.5	+0.4	+0.3	-0.3	-1.2	+0.5	+1.8	+.022	+1.0	+2.6	+.006	+0.7	+0.8	+.024
Darius Garland	54	33.1	17.4	0.4	2.0	2.4	6.1	1.2	0.1	3.0	2.0	6.7	14.9	.451	1.9	4.9	.395	2.1	2.4	.848
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Darius Garland played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	LaMelo Ball	Darius Garland
Season	2022-23	2021-22
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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		%
LaMelo Ball	36	35.2	23.3	1.2	5.3	6.4	8.4	1.3	0.3	3.6	3.3	8.2	20.0	.411	4.0	10.6	.376	2.8	3.4	.836
difference:	+32	+0.5	+1.6	+0.6	+2.6	+3.1	+0.2		+0.2		-1.6	+0.2	+2.7	+.051	+1.4	+3.9	+.007	+0.4	+0.1	+.056
Darius Garland	68	35.7	21.7	0.6	2.7	3.3	8.6	1.3	0.1	3.6	1.7	8.0	17.3	.462	2.6	6.7	.383	3.2	3.5	.892
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Darius Garland played in the postseason in their season 3

Season 6
	LaMelo Ball	Darius Garland
Season	2025-26	2024-25
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Cavaliers Lost East 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	6	33.3	23.3	1.5	6.3	7.8	9.8	1.7	0.2	3.7	3.5	8.2	19.0	.430	3.3	10.0	.333	3.7	4.5	.815
difference:	+69	+2.6	+2.7	+0.9	+4.1	+4.9	+3.1	+0.5	+0.1	-1.2	-1.6	+0.8	+3.3	+.042	+0.5	+2.9	+.068	+0.7	+1.1	+.063
Darius Garland	75	30.7	20.6	0.6	2.2	2.9	6.7	1.2	0.1	2.5	1.9	7.4	15.7	.472	2.8	7.1	.401	3.0	3.4	.878
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Darius Garland	5	29.6	18.0	0.2	2.0	2.2	5.2	0.4	0.0	3.0	3.4	5.8	13.8	.420	2.0	7.0	.286	4.4	4.8	.917