LaMelo Ball vs. Jermaine O'Neal Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Jermaine O'Neal 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, 13 less than Jermaine O'Neal, who played 18. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Jermaine O'Neal had his rookie season in 1996-97. 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	Jermaine O'Neal
Season	2020-21	1996-97
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Portland Trail Blazers
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Trail Blazers Lost West 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:	+6	+18.6	+11.6	+0.3	+2.8	+3.1	+5.9	+1.6	+0.2	-2.2	-1.7	+4.2	+9.8	+.015	+1.8	+5.1		+1.5	+1.5	+.155
Jermaine O'Neal	45	10.2	4.1	0.9	1.9	2.8	0.2	0.0	0.6	0.6	1.0	1.5	3.4	.451	0.0	0.0	-	1.0	1.7	.603
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jermaine O'Neal	2	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	.000	0.0	0.5	.000	0.0	1.0	.000

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Jermaine O'Neal
Season	2021-22	1997-98
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Portland Trail Blazers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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:	+15	+18.8	+15.6	+0.1	+3.2	+3.3	+7.3	+1.3	+0.6	-2.4	-1.5	+5.3	+12.8	+.056	+2.9	+7.5		+2.0	+1.7	+.366
Jermaine O'Neal	60	13.5	4.5	1.3	2.0	3.4	0.3	0.3	1.0	0.9	1.7	1.9	3.9	.485	0.0	0.0	-	0.8	1.5	.506
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jermaine O'Neal	1	3.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	3.0	.000	0.0	1.0	.000	0.0	0.0	-

Additional Years
* Jermaine O'Neal played 13 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 18, from 2002 to 2014—Jermaine O'Neal played in 9 Playoffs. In those 13 extra years over LaMelo Ball, Jermaine O'Neal got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-NBA Third Team 1 Most Improved Player 6 All-Star Game