Larry Bird vs. Franz Wagner Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Franz Wagner and Larry Bird, 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.

Larry Bird played 13 years in the NBA, 9 more than Franz Wagner, who played 4. Larry Bird had the first of his seasons in 1979-80, while Franz Wagner had his rookie season in 2021-22. 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
	Larry Bird	Franz Wagner
Season	1979-80	2021-22
Team	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals	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		%
Larry Bird	82	36.0	21.3	2.6	7.8	10.4	4.5	1.7	0.6	3.2	3.4	8.5	17.8	.474	0.7	1.7	.406	3.7	4.4	.836
difference:	+3	+5.3	+6.1	+1.5	+4.4	+5.9	+1.6	+0.8	+0.2	-1.7	-1.3	+2.7	+5.5	+.006	+0.5	+1.7	+.052	+1.3	+1.6	+.027
Franz Wagner	79	30.7	15.2	1.1	3.4	4.5	2.9	0.9	0.4	1.5	2.1	5.8	12.3	.468	1.2	3.4	.354	2.4	2.8	.863
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Bird	9	41.3	21.3	2.4	8.8	11.2	4.7	1.6	0.9	3.7	3.3	9.2	19.7	.469	0.4	1.7	.267	2.4	2.8	.880
Franz Wagner	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Larry Bird	Franz Wagner
Season	1980-81	2022-23
Team	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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		%
Larry Bird	82	39.5	21.2	2.3	8.6	10.9	5.5	2.0	0.8	3.5	2.9	8.8	18.3	.478	0.2	0.9	.270	3.5	4.0	.863
difference:	+2	+6.9	+2.6	+1.4	+5.4	+6.8	+2.0	+1.0	+0.6	-1.4	-0.6	+2.0	+4.3	+.007	+1.4	+3.6	+.091	+0.1		+.021
Franz Wagner	80	32.6	18.6	0.9	3.2	4.1	3.5	1.0	0.2	2.1	2.3	6.8	14.0	.485	1.6	4.5	.361	3.4	4.0	.842
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Bird	17	44.1	21.9	2.9	11.1	14.0	6.1	2.3	1.0	3.6	3.1	8.6	18.4	.470	0.2	0.5	.375	4.5	5.0	.894
Franz Wagner	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Larry Bird	Franz Wagner
Season	1981-82	2023-24
Team	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game MVP	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Larry Bird	77	38.0	22.9	2.6	8.3	10.9	5.8	1.9	0.9	3.3	3.2	9.2	18.4	.503	0.1	0.7	.212	4.3	4.9	.863
difference:	+5	+5.5	+3.2	+1.6	+4.0	+5.6	+2.1	+0.8	+0.5	-1.4	-0.9	+1.9	+3.2	+.021	+1.2	+3.9	+.069	+0.5	+0.5	+.013
Franz Wagner	72	32.5	19.7	1.0	4.3	5.3	3.7	1.1	0.4	1.9	2.3	7.3	15.2	.482	1.3	4.6	.281	3.8	4.4	.850
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Bird	12	40.8	17.8	2.8	9.8	12.5	5.6	1.9	1.4	3.2	3.6	7.3	17.2	.427	0.1	0.5	.167	3.1	3.8	.822
difference:	+5	+3.8	+1.1	+1.4	+4.4	+5.6	+1.2	+1.2	+0.1	-1.9	-0.7	+1.3	+2.5	+.019	+1.2	+4.4	+.098	+2.5	+2.5	+.064
Franz Wagner	7	37.0	18.9	1.4	5.4	6.9	4.4	0.7	1.3	1.3	2.9	6.0	14.7	.408	1.3	4.9	.265	5.6	6.3	.886

Season 4
	Larry Bird	Franz Wagner
Season	1982-83	2024-25
Team	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Celtics Lost East Conf Semis	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Larry Bird	79	37.7	23.6	2.4	8.6	11.0	5.8	1.9	0.9	3.0	2.5	9.5	18.7	.504	0.3	1.0	.286	4.4	5.3	.840
difference:	+19	+4.0	+0.6	+1.5	+3.8	+5.3	+1.1	+0.6	+0.5	-0.7		+0.5	+0.7	+.041	+1.4	+4.9	+.009	+0.1	+0.1	+.031
Franz Wagner	60	33.7	24.2	0.9	4.8	5.7	4.7	1.3	0.4	2.3	2.5	9.0	19.4	.463	1.7	5.9	.295	4.5	5.2	.871
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Bird	6	40.0	20.5	3.3	9.2	12.5	6.8	2.2	0.5	3.2	2.5	8.2	19.3	.422	0.2	0.7	.250	4.0	4.8	.828
difference:	+1	+1.0	+5.3	+2.7	+5.0	+7.7	+1.2	+1.0	+0.1	-1.2	-0.7	+2.0	+3.7	+.021	+1.2	+6.7	+.061		+0.4	+.059
Franz Wagner	5	39.0	25.8	0.6	4.2	4.8	5.6	1.2	0.4	2.0	3.2	10.2	23.0	.443	1.4	7.4	.189	4.0	5.2	.769

Additional Years
* Larry Bird played 9 seasons more than Franz Wagner in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 13, from 1984 to 1992—Larry Bird played in 8 Playoffs and won two NBA Championships. In those 9 extra years over Franz Wagner, Larry Bird got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Finals MVP 3 Season MVP 5 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive Second Team 8 All-Star Game