LaMelo Ball vs. Patrick Ewing Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Patrick Ewing 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, 12 less than Patrick Ewing, who played 17. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Patrick Ewing had his rookie season in 1985-86. 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	Patrick Ewing
Season	2020-21	1985-86
Team	Charlotte Hornets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

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:	+1	+6.6	+4.3	+1.3	+1.8	+3.1	+4.1	+0.5	+1.7	-0.6	-1.1	+2.0	+3.1	+.038	+1.8	+5.0	+.352	+2.0	+2.9	+.019
Patrick Ewing	50	35.4	20.0	2.5	6.5	9.0	2.0	1.1	2.1	3.4	3.8	7.7	16.3	.474	0.0	0.1	.000	4.5	6.1	.739
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Patrick Ewing played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Patrick Ewing
Season	2021-22	1986-87
Team	Charlotte Hornets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

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:	+12	+2.7	+1.4	+1.1	+1.1	+2.1	+5.9	+0.2	+1.9	-0.3	-0.7	+1.2		+.074	+2.9	+7.4	+.389	+1.9	+3.4	+.159
Patrick Ewing	63	35.0	21.5	2.5	6.3	8.8	1.7	1.4	2.3	3.6	3.9	8.4	16.7	.503	0.0	0.1	.000	4.7	6.6	.713
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Patrick Ewing played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	LaMelo Ball	Patrick Ewing
Season	2022-23	1987-88
Team	Charlotte Hornets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Knicks Lost East Conf 1st Rd

more >>

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	+4.2	+3.1	+1.8		+1.8	+6.9		+2.7	-0.1	-0.7	+0.2	+5.6	+.144	+4.0	+10.6		+1.4	+2.4	+.120
Patrick Ewing	82	31.0	20.2	3.0	5.3	8.2	1.5	1.3	3.0	3.5	4.0	8.0	14.4	.555	0.0	0.0	-	4.2	5.8	.716
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Patrick Ewing	4	38.3	18.8	4.0	8.8	12.8	2.5	1.5	3.3	2.8	4.3	7.0	14.3	.491	0.0	0.3	.000	4.8	5.5	.864

Season 4
	LaMelo Ball	Patrick Ewing
Season	2023-24	1988-89
Team	Charlotte Hornets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis

more >>

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:	+58	+3.9	+1.2	+1.4	+2.8	+4.2	+5.6	+0.3	+3.3	-0.5	-0.3	+0.8	+3.2	+.134	+3.2	+8.9	+.355	+0.4	+1.4	+.119
Patrick Ewing	80	36.2	22.7	2.7	6.6	9.3	2.4	1.5	3.5	3.3	3.9	9.1	16.0	.567	0.0	0.1	.000	4.5	6.1	.746
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Patrick Ewing	9	37.8	19.9	2.6	7.4	10.0	2.2	1.0	2.0	1.7	3.9	7.8	16.0	.486	0.0	0.0	-	4.3	5.8	.750

Season 5
	LaMelo Ball	Patrick Ewing
Season	2024-25	1989-90
Team	Charlotte Hornets	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis

more >>

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	+6.6	+3.4	+1.9	+4.1	+6.0	+5.2	+0.1	+3.7	-0.2	-0.7	+2.6	+0.9	+.146	+3.8	+11.2		+2.0	+3.0	+.068
Patrick Ewing	82	38.6	28.6	2.9	8.0	10.9	2.2	1.0	4.0	3.4	4.0	11.2	20.4	.551	0.0	0.0	-	6.1	7.9	.775
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Patrick Ewing	10	39.5	29.4	2.1	8.4	10.5	3.1	1.3	2.0	2.7	4.1	11.4	21.9	.521	0.1	0.2	.500	6.5	7.9	.823

Additional Years
* Patrick Ewing played 12 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 17, from 1991 to 2002—Patrick Ewing played in 11 Playoffs. In those 12 extra years over LaMelo Ball, Patrick Ewing got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	4 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive Second Team 7 All-Star Game