LaMelo Ball vs. Richard Hamilton Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Richard Hamilton 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, 9 less than Richard Hamilton, who played 14. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Richard Hamilton had his rookie season in 1999-00. 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	Richard Hamilton
Season	2020-21	1999-00
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Washington Wizards
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	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:	+20	+9.5	+6.7	+0.7	+3.4	+4.1	+4.6	+1.2	+0.3	-1.6	-0.7	+2.1	+4.7	+.016	+1.4	+4.0	+.012	+1.0	+1.3	+.016
Richard Hamilton	71	19.3	9.0	0.5	1.3	1.8	1.5	0.4	0.1	1.2	2.0	3.6	8.5	.420	0.4	1.1	.364	1.5	1.9	.774
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Richard Hamilton played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Richard Hamilton
Season	2021-22	2000-01
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Washington Wizards
Honors & Awards	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:	+3		+2.0	+0.4	+3.1	+3.6	+4.7	+0.6	+0.3	-0.7	-0.6	+0.2	+0.7	+.009	+2.4	+5.6	+.115	+0.8	+0.9	+.004
Richard Hamilton	78	32.3	18.1	1.0	2.1	3.1	2.9	1.0	0.1	2.6	2.6	7.0	16.0	.438	0.5	1.9	.274	3.6	4.1	.868
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Richard Hamilton played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 5
	LaMelo Ball	Richard Hamilton
Season	2024-25	2003-04
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Detroit Pistons
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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:	+31	+3.5	+7.6		+1.3	+1.3	+3.4	+0.2	+0.1	-0.9	-0.5	+1.8	+6.4	+.050	+3.6	+10.3	+.074	+0.3	+0.5	+.025
Richard Hamilton	78	35.5	17.6	1.0	2.6	3.6	4.0	1.3	0.2	2.7	2.8	6.8	14.9	.455	0.2	0.9	.265	3.8	4.4	.868
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Richard Hamilton	23	40.6	21.5	1.4	3.2	4.6	4.2	1.2	0.0	3.1	3.1	7.9	17.6	.447	0.7	1.7	.385	5.1	6.0	.848

Additional Years
* Richard Hamilton played 9 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 14, from 2005 to 2013—Richard Hamilton played in 7 Playoffs. In those 9 extra years over LaMelo Ball, Richard Hamilton got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 All-Star Game