LaMelo Ball vs. John Havlicek Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of John Havlicek 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, 11 less than John Havlicek, who played 16. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while John Havlicek had his rookie season in 1962-63. 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	John Havlicek
Season	2020-21	1962-63
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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:	+29	+1.3	+1.4			+0.8	+3.9				-0.3	+0.3	+0.4	+.009				+0.3	+0.2	+.030
John Havlicek	80	27.5	14.3	-	-	6.7	2.2	-	-	-	2.4	6.0	13.6	.445	-	-	-	2.2	3.0	.728
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
John Havlicek	11	23.1	11.8	-	-	4.8	1.5	-	-	-	2.5	5.1	11.4	.448	-	-	-	1.6	2.5	.667

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	John Havlicek
Season	2021-22	1963-64
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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:	+5		+0.2			+1.3	+4.6				-0.4	+0.8	+2.5	+.012				+1.1	+2.1	+.126
John Havlicek	80	32.3	19.9	-	-	5.4	3.0	-	-	-	2.8	8.0	19.2	.417	-	-	-	3.9	5.3	.746
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
John Havlicek	10	28.9	15.7	-	-	4.3	3.2	-	-	-	2.6	6.1	15.9	.384	-	-	-	3.5	4.4	.795

Season 3
	LaMelo Ball	John Havlicek
Season	2022-23	1964-65
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Boston Celtics
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:	+39	+6.3	+5.0			+1.5	+5.7				-0.6	+0.6	+1.1	+.010				+0.3	+0.8	+.092
John Havlicek	75	28.9	18.3	-	-	4.9	2.7	-	-	-	2.7	7.6	18.9	.401	-	-	-	3.1	4.2	.744
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
John Havlicek	12	33.8	18.5	-	-	7.3	2.4	-	-	-	3.7	7.3	20.8	.352	-	-	-	3.8	4.6	.836

Season 4
	LaMelo Ball	John Havlicek
Season	2023-24	1965-66
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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:	+49	+1.7	+5.1			+0.9	+5.0				-1.4	+0.8	+0.5	+.034				+0.2	+0.2	+.080
John Havlicek	71	30.6	18.8	-	-	6.0	3.0	-	-	-	2.2	7.5	18.7	.399	-	-	-	3.9	4.9	.785
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
John Havlicek	17	42.3	23.6	-	-	9.1	4.1	-	-	-	4.1	9.0	22.0	.409	-	-	-	5.6	6.6	.841

Season 5
	LaMelo Ball	John Havlicek
Season	2024-25	1966-67
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Div Finals

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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:	+34	+0.1	+3.8			+1.7	+4.0				-0.7	+0.2	+2.3	+.039				+0.4	+0.5	+.015
John Havlicek	81	32.1	21.4	-	-	6.6	3.4	-	-	-	2.6	8.4	19.0	.444	-	-	-	4.5	5.4	.828
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
John Havlicek	9	36.7	27.4	-	-	8.1	3.1	-	-	-	3.3	10.6	23.6	.448	-	-	-	6.3	7.9	.803

Additional Years
* John Havlicek played 11 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 16, from 1968 to 1978—John Havlicek played in 8 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 11 extra years over LaMelo Ball, John Havlicek got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 4 All-NBA First Team 5 All-NBA Second Team 5 All-Defensive First Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 11 All-Star Game