LaMelo Ball vs. Rick Barry Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Rick Barry 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, 5 less than Rick Barry, who played 10. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Rick Barry had his rookie season in 1965-66. 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	Rick Barry
Season	2020-21	1965-66
Team	Charlotte Hornets	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	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

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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	+8.6	+10.0			+4.7	+3.9				-1.0	+3.6	+8.0	+.003				+4.6	+5.1	+.104
Rick Barry	80	37.4	25.7	-	-	10.6	2.2	-	-	-	3.7	9.3	21.2	.439	-	-	-	7.1	8.3	.862
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Rick Barry played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Rick Barry
Season	2021-22	1966-67
Team	Charlotte Hornets	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Warriors Lost NBA Finals

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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	+8.4	+15.5			+2.5	+4.0				-0.1	+5.8	+12.0	+.022				+6.9	+7.7	+.012
Rick Barry	78	40.7	35.6	-	-	9.2	3.6	-	-	-	3.3	13.0	28.7	.451	-	-	-	9.7	10.9	.884
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rick Barry	15	40.9	34.7	-	-	7.5	3.9	-	-	-	3.3	13.1	32.6	.403	-	-	-	8.5	10.5	.809

Note: Rick Barry didn't play in 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1970-71 and 1971-72.

Season 3
	LaMelo Ball	Rick Barry
Season	2022-23	1972-73
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Warriors Lost West Conf Finals

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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	+2.3	+1.0			+2.5	+3.5				-0.3	+0.8	+0.1	+.041				+1.6	+1.4	+.066
Rick Barry	82	37.5	22.3	-	-	8.9	4.9	-	-	-	3.0	9.0	19.9	.452	-	-	-	4.4	4.8	.902
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rick Barry	11	26.5	16.4	-	-	4.9	2.2	-	-	-	3.7	5.9	14.9	.396	-	-	-	4.5	5.0	.909

Season 4
	LaMelo Ball	Rick Barry
Season	2023-24	1973-74
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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:	+58	+4.2	+1.2		+1.7	+1.7	+1.9	+0.3	+0.3		-0.3	+1.7	+2.6	+.023				+1.1	+1.1	+.034
Rick Barry	80	36.5	25.1	1.3	5.5	6.8	6.1	2.1	0.5	-	3.3	10.0	21.8	.456	-	-	-	5.2	5.8	.899
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Rick Barry played in the postseason in their season 4

Season 5
	LaMelo Ball	Rick Barry
Season	2024-25	1974-75
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Steals Leader
	-	All-Star Game
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:	+33	+8.4	+5.4	+0.2	+0.7	+0.8	+1.2	+1.8	+0.1		-0.5	+4.3	+6.4	+.059				+0.8	+0.6	+.061
Rick Barry	80	40.4	30.6	1.2	4.6	5.7	6.2	2.9	0.4	-	2.8	12.9	27.7	.464	-	-	-	4.9	5.5	.904
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rick Barry	17	42.7	28.2	1.3	4.2	5.5	6.1	2.9	0.9	-	3.0	11.1	25.1	.444	-	-	-	5.9	6.5	.918

Additional Years
* Rick Barry played 5 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 10, from 1976 to 1980—Rick Barry played in 4 Playoffs. In those 5 extra years over LaMelo Ball, Rick Barry got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA First Team 3 All-Star Game