LaMelo Ball vs. Tristan Thompson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Tristan Thompson 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 Tristan Thompson, who played 14. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Tristan Thompson had his rookie season in 2011-12. 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	Tristan Thompson
Season	2020-21	2011-12
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
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:	+9	+5.1	+7.5	+1.9	+1.3	+0.6	+5.6	+1.1	+0.6	-1.4	-0.5	+2.5	+5.8	+.003	+1.8	+5.1		+0.7		+.206
Tristan Thompson	60	23.7	8.2	3.1	3.4	6.5	0.5	0.5	1.0	1.4	2.2	3.2	7.4	.439	0.0	0.0	-	1.8	3.2	.552
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Tristan Thompson played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Tristan Thompson
Season	2021-22	2012-13
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
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:	+7	+1.0	+8.4	+2.3	+0.5	+2.7	+6.3	+0.9	+0.5	-1.8	-0.3	+2.4	+7.0	+.059	+2.9	+7.5		+0.6	+0.3	+.264
Tristan Thompson	82	31.3	11.7	3.7	5.7	9.4	1.3	0.7	0.9	1.5	2.9	4.8	9.7	.488	0.0	0.0	-	2.2	3.5	.608
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LaMelo Ball nor Tristan Thompson played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 5
	LaMelo Ball	Tristan Thompson
Season	2024-25	2015-16
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Cleveland Cavaliers
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:	+35	+4.3	+17.4	+2.3	+1.8	+4.1	+6.6	+0.6	+0.3	-2.9	-0.8	+5.6	+16.2	+.183	+3.8	+11.2		+2.3	+1.9	+.227
Tristan Thompson	82	27.7	7.8	3.3	5.7	9.0	0.8	0.5	0.6	0.7	2.5	3.0	5.1	.588	0.0	0.0	-	1.8	3.0	.616
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tristan Thompson	21	29.6	6.7	4.1	4.9	9.0	0.7	0.4	0.9	0.8	2.6	2.3	4.4	.527	0.0	0.0	-	2.0	3.5	.575