LaMelo Ball vs. George Gervin Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of George Gervin 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, 5 less than George Gervin, who played 10. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while George Gervin had his rookie season in 1976-77. 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	George Gervin
Season	2020-21	1976-77
Team	Charlotte Hornets	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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:	+31	+4.2	+7.4	+0.4	+0.8	+0.4	+3.2	+0.3	+0.9		-0.8	+3.2	+3.1	+.108				+2.9	+3.3	+.075
George Gervin	82	33.0	23.1	1.6	3.9	5.5	2.9	1.3	1.3	-	3.5	8.9	16.3	.544	-	-	-	5.4	6.5	.833
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
George Gervin	2	31.0	25.0	2.5	3.0	5.5	1.5	0.5	1.0	-	4.5	9.5	22.0	.432	-	-	-	6.0	7.5	.800

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	George Gervin
Season	2021-22	1977-78
Team	Charlotte Hornets	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs 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:	+7	+2.5	+7.1		+1.5	+1.6	+3.9	+0.1	+0.9	-0.4	-0.1	+3.3	+2.9	+.107				+3.3	+4.2	+.042
George Gervin	82	34.8	27.2	1.4	3.7	5.1	3.7	1.7	1.3	3.7	3.1	10.5	19.6	.536	-	-	-	6.1	7.4	.830
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
George Gervin	6	37.8	33.2	1.8	3.8	5.7	3.2	1.0	2.7	3.2	3.8	13.0	23.7	.549	-	-	-	7.2	9.3	.768

Season 3
	LaMelo Ball	George Gervin
Season	2022-23	1978-79
Team	Charlotte Hornets	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs Lost East Conf Finals

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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:	+44	+0.9	+6.3	+0.6	+2.1	+1.4	+5.7	+0.4	+0.8		-0.1	+3.6	+1.9	+.130				+3.1	+3.7	+.010
George Gervin	80	36.1	29.6	1.8	3.2	5.0	2.7	1.7	1.1	3.6	3.4	11.8	21.9	.541	-	-	-	5.9	7.1	.826
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
George Gervin	14	36.6	28.6	2.4	3.5	5.9	2.5	1.9	1.0	2.9	3.6	11.3	21.1	.536	-	-	-	6.0	7.4	.808

Season 4
	LaMelo Ball	George Gervin
Season	2023-24	1979-80
Team	Charlotte Hornets	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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:	+56	+5.3	+9.2	+0.7	+0.6	+0.1	+5.4	+0.4	+0.8	-0.5	-0.9	+4.8	+5.7	+.095	+2.8	+7.7	+.041	+2.4	+2.9	+.013
George Gervin	78	37.6	33.1	2.0	3.2	5.2	2.6	1.4	1.0	3.3	2.7	13.1	24.9	.528	0.4	1.3	.314	6.5	7.6	.852
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
George Gervin	3	40.7	33.3	3.0	3.7	6.7	4.0	1.7	1.0	3.0	2.7	12.3	24.7	.500	0.0	0.7	.000	8.7	10.0	.867

Season 5
	LaMelo Ball	George Gervin
Season	2024-25	1980-81
Team	Charlotte Hornets	San Antonio Spurs
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Spurs Lost West Conf Semis

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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:	+35	+1.7	+1.9	+0.5	+0.3	+0.2	+4.2		+0.4	-0.5	-0.7	+1.8	+0.2	+.087	+3.7	+10.8	+.082	+2.1	+2.7	+.017
George Gervin	82	33.7	27.1	1.5	3.6	5.1	3.2	1.1	0.7	3.1	2.6	10.4	21.1	.492	0.1	0.4	.257	6.2	7.6	.826
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
George Gervin	7	39.1	27.1	1.3	3.7	5.0	3.4	0.7	0.7	2.9	2.7	11.0	22.0	.500	0.0	0.4	.000	5.1	6.4	.800

Additional Years
* George Gervin played 5 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 10, from 1982 to 1986—George Gervin played in 4 Playoffs. In those 5 extra years over LaMelo Ball, George Gervin got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 Scoring Leader 4 All-Star Game