LaMelo Ball vs. Kevin Garnett Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Kevin Garnett 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, 16 less than Kevin Garnett, who played 21. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Kevin Garnett had his rookie season in 1995-96. 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	Kevin Garnett
Season	2020-21	1995-96
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie Second 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:	+29	+0.1	+5.3	+1.0	+0.6	+0.4	+4.3	+0.5	+1.2	-1.4	-0.3	+1.2	+4.0	+.055	+1.7	+4.7	+.066	+1.2	+1.3	+.053
Kevin Garnett	80	28.7	10.4	2.2	4.1	6.3	1.8	1.1	1.6	1.4	2.4	4.5	9.2	.491	0.1	0.4	.286	1.3	1.9	.705
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Kevin Garnett played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Kevin Garnett
Season	2021-22	1996-97
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves 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:	+2	+6.6	+3.1	+1.1	+0.4	+1.3	+4.5	+0.2	+1.7	-1.0	-0.6	+0.1	+2.4	+.070	+2.8	+7.2	+.103	+0.1	+0.3	+.118
Kevin Garnett	77	38.9	17.0	2.5	5.6	8.0	3.1	1.4	2.1	2.3	2.6	7.1	14.3	.499	0.1	0.3	.286	2.7	3.5	.754
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Garnett	3	41.7	17.3	4.7	4.7	9.3	3.7	1.3	1.0	1.3	2.0	8.0	17.0	.471	0.3	0.3	1.000	1.0	1.0	1.000

Season 3
	LaMelo Ball	Kevin Garnett
Season	2022-23	1997-98
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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:	+46	+4.1	+4.8	+1.5	+1.6	+3.2	+4.2	+0.4	+1.5	-1.3	-0.6	+0.5	+4.2	+.080	+4.0	+10.4	+.188	+0.2	+0.6	+.098
Kevin Garnett	82	39.3	18.5	2.7	6.9	9.6	4.2	1.7	1.8	2.3	2.7	7.7	15.8	.491	0.0	0.2	.188	3.0	4.0	.738
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Garnett	5	38.6	15.8	3.4	6.2	9.6	4.0	0.8	2.4	4.4	3.4	7.2	15.0	.480	0.0	0.0	-	1.4	1.8	.778

Season 4
	LaMelo Ball	Kevin Garnett
Season	2023-24	1998-99
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West 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:	+25	+5.6	+3.1	+2.2	+3.1	+5.3	+3.7	+0.1	+1.6	-0.9	-0.4	+0.5	+0.1	+.027	+3.1	+8.7	+.069	+1.0	+0.3	+.161
Kevin Garnett	47	37.9	20.8	3.5	6.9	10.4	4.3	1.7	1.8	2.9	3.2	8.8	19.1	.460	0.1	0.3	.286	3.1	4.4	.704
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Garnett	4	42.5	21.8	4.0	8.0	12.0	3.8	1.8	2.0	3.3	2.5	8.8	19.8	.443	0.0	0.5	.000	4.3	5.8	.739

Season 5
	LaMelo Ball	Kevin Garnett
Season	2024-25	1999-00
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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	+8.0	+2.3	+1.8	+5.1	+6.9	+2.4	+0.4	+1.3	-0.3	-0.8	+0.8	+2.5	+.092	+3.4	+10.2	+.031	+0.3	+0.1	+.078
Kevin Garnett	81	40.0	22.9	2.8	9.0	11.8	5.0	1.5	1.6	3.3	2.5	9.4	18.8	.497	0.4	1.0	.370	3.8	5.0	.765
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Garnett	4	42.5	18.8	3.3	7.5	10.8	8.8	1.3	0.8	2.8	3.0	7.5	19.5	.385	0.5	0.8	.667	3.3	4.0	.813

Additional Years
* Kevin Garnett played 16 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 21, from 2001 to 2016—Kevin Garnett played in 10 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 16 extra years over LaMelo Ball, Kevin Garnett got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Season MVP 3 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 8 All-Defensive First Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Defensive Player of the Year 4 Rebounds Leader 12 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP