LaMelo Ball vs. Fred VanVleet Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Fred VanVleet 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 5 years in the NBA, 4 less than Fred VanVleet, who played 9. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Fred VanVleet had his rookie season in 2016-17. 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	Fred VanVleet
Season	2020-21	2016-17
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Raptors Lost East Conf Semis

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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:	+14	+20.9	+12.8	+1.1	+3.7	+4.8	+5.2	+1.2	+0.3	-2.4	-1.7	+4.6	+10.2	+.085	+1.5	+4.3	+.027	+2.0	+2.6	+.060
Fred VanVleet	37	7.9	2.9	0.1	1.0	1.1	0.9	0.4	0.1	0.4	1.0	1.1	3.0	.351	0.3	0.8	.379	0.5	0.6	.818
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fred VanVleet	7	4.1	2.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.6	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.4	0.9	1.3	.667	0.3	0.7	.400	0.0	0.0	-

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Fred VanVleet
Season	2021-22	2017-18
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Raptors Lost East 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:	+1	+12.3	+11.5	+1.1	+3.1	+4.3	+4.4	+0.7	+0.1	-2.3	-1.5	+4.1	+9.5	+.003	+1.5	+4.1	+.025	+1.7	+1.9	+.040
Fred VanVleet	76	20.0	8.6	0.3	2.1	2.4	3.2	0.9	0.3	1.0	1.7	3.1	7.2	.426	1.4	3.4	.414	1.1	1.3	.832
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fred VanVleet	6	19.0	6.8	0.0	1.7	1.7	2.2	0.0	0.0	0.7	1.3	2.2	6.5	.333	1.3	4.7	.286	1.2	1.3	.875

Season 3
	LaMelo Ball	Fred VanVleet
Season	2022-23	2018-19
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Toronto Raptors
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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:	+28	+7.7	+12.3	+0.9	+3.0	+3.8	+3.6	+0.4		-2.3	-1.6	+4.4	+10.6	+.001	+2.2	+6.0	+.002	+1.3	+1.6	+.007
Fred VanVleet	64	27.5	11.0	0.3	2.3	2.6	4.8	0.9	0.3	1.3	1.7	3.8	9.4	.410	1.8	4.6	.378	1.5	1.8	.843
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Fred VanVleet	24	24.7	8.0	0.3	1.4	1.7	2.6	0.8	0.3	0.9	2.0	2.7	6.9	.392	1.6	4.1	.388	1.0	1.3	.774

Additional Years
* Fred VanVleet played 4 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 9, from 2022 to 2025—Fred VanVleet played in two Playoffs. In those 4 extra years over LaMelo Ball, Fred VanVleet got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-Star Game