LaMelo Ball vs. LeBron James Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of LeBron James 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, 17 less than LeBron James, who played 22. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while LeBron James had his rookie season in 2003-04. 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	LeBron James
Season	2020-21	2003-04
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First 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:	+28	+10.7	+5.2	+0.1	+0.5	+0.4	+0.2		+0.3	-0.7	-0.8	+2.2	+5.7	+.019	+1.0	+2.4	+.062	+1.9	+2.6	+.004
LeBron James	79	39.5	20.9	1.3	4.2	5.5	5.9	1.6	0.7	3.5	1.9	7.9	18.9	.417	0.8	2.7	.290	4.4	5.8	.754
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor LeBron James played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	LeBron James
Season	2021-22	2004-05
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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	+10.1	+7.1		+0.8	+0.7	+0.4	+0.6	+0.3		-1.4	+2.7	+4.4	+.043	+1.5	+3.6	+.038	+3.2	+4.8	+.122
LeBron James	80	42.4	27.2	1.4	6.0	7.4	7.2	2.2	0.7	3.3	1.8	9.9	21.1	.472	1.4	3.9	.351	6.0	8.0	.750
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor LeBron James played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	LaMelo Ball	LeBron James
Season	2022-23	2005-06
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Cavaliers Lost East Conf Semis

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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:	+43	+7.3	+8.1	+0.3	+0.8	+0.6	+1.8	+0.3	+0.5	-0.3	-1.0	+2.9	+3.1	+.069	+2.4	+5.8	+.041	+4.8	+6.9	+.098
LeBron James	79	42.5	31.4	0.9	6.1	7.0	6.6	1.6	0.8	3.3	2.3	11.1	23.1	.480	1.6	4.8	.335	7.6	10.3	.738
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
LeBron James	13	46.5	30.8	1.7	6.4	8.1	5.8	1.4	0.7	5.0	3.4	11.2	23.6	.476	1.6	4.8	.333	6.7	9.1	.737

Season 4
	LaMelo Ball	LeBron James
Season	2023-24	2006-07
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Cavaliers Lost NBA Finals

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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	+8.6	+3.4	+0.2	+1.9	+1.6	+2.0	+0.2	+0.5	-0.6	-1.4	+1.6	+1.6	+.043	+1.9	+5.0	+.036	+2.2	+4.3	+.167
LeBron James	78	40.9	27.3	1.1	5.7	6.7	6.0	1.6	0.7	3.2	2.2	9.9	20.8	.476	1.3	4.0	.319	6.3	9.0	.698
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
LeBron James	20	44.7	25.1	1.3	6.8	8.1	8.0	1.7	0.5	3.3	2.0	8.3	20.0	.416	1.1	3.8	.280	7.4	9.8	.755

Season 5
	LaMelo Ball	LeBron James
Season	2024-25	2007-08
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Cavaliers Lost East 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:	+28	+8.4	+4.8	+0.8	+2.2	+3.0	+0.2	+0.7	+0.8	-0.2	-1.1	+2.0	+0.6	+.079	+2.3	+6.4	+.024	+3.2	+5.4	+.131
LeBron James	75	40.4	30.0	1.8	6.1	7.9	7.2	1.8	1.1	3.4	2.2	10.6	21.9	.484	1.5	4.8	.315	7.3	10.3	.712
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
LeBron James	13	42.5	28.2	1.2	6.6	7.8	7.6	1.8	1.3	4.2	2.5	8.7	21.2	.411	1.4	5.4	.257	9.4	12.8	.731

Additional Years
* LeBron James played 17 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 22, from 2009 to 2025—LeBron James played in 15 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships and one NBA Cup. In those 17 extra years over LaMelo Ball, LeBron James got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	4 Finals MVP 4 Season MVP 11 All-NBA First Team 2 All-NBA Second Team 4 All-NBA Third Team 5 All-Defensive First Team 1 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Assists Leader 1 Cup MVP 1 Cup All-Tournament Team 17 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP