Larry Johnson vs. Yao Ming Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Yao Ming and Larry Johnson, 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 Johnson played 10 years in the NBA, 2 more than Yao Ming, who played 8. Larry Johnson had the first of his seasons in 1991-92, while Yao Ming had his rookie season in 2002-03. 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 Johnson	Yao Ming
Season	1991-92	2002-03
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	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		%
Larry Johnson	82	37.2	19.2	3.9	7.0	11.0	3.6	1.0	0.6	2.0	2.7	7.5	15.3	.490	0.1	0.3	.227	4.1	5.0	.829
difference:		+8.2	+5.7	+1.5	+1.2	+2.8	+1.9	+0.6	+1.2	-0.1	-0.1	+2.6	+5.5	+.008	+0.1	+0.3		+0.4	+0.5	+.018
Yao Ming	82	29.0	13.5	2.4	5.8	8.2	1.7	0.4	1.8	2.1	2.8	4.9	9.8	.498	0.0	0.0	-	3.7	4.5	.811
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Larry Johnson nor Yao Ming played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Larry Johnson	Yao Ming
Season	1992-93	2003-04
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Hornets Lost East Conf Semis	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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 Johnson	82	40.5	22.1	3.4	7.1	10.5	4.3	0.6	0.3	2.8	2.3	8.9	16.9	.526	0.2	0.9	.254	4.1	5.3	.767
difference:		+7.7	+4.6	+1.0	+0.5	+1.5	+2.8	+0.3	+1.6	-0.3	-1.0	+2.4	+4.4	+.004	+0.2	+0.9		+0.3	+0.1	+.042
Yao Ming	82	32.8	17.5	2.4	6.6	9.0	1.5	0.3	1.9	2.5	3.3	6.5	12.5	.522	0.0	0.0	-	4.4	5.4	.809
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	9	38.7	19.8	2.1	4.8	6.9	3.3	0.6	0.2	2.1	3.0	7.6	13.6	.557	0.1	0.4	.250	4.6	5.8	.788
difference:	+4	+1.1	+4.8	+0.1	+0.4	+0.5	+1.5	+0.2	+1.2	-0.5	-1.0	+1.4		+.101	+0.1	+0.4		+2.0	+2.4	+.023
Yao Ming	5	37.6	15.0	2.2	5.2	7.4	1.8	0.4	1.4	2.6	4.0	6.2	13.6	.456	0.0	0.0	-	2.6	3.4	.765

Season 3
	Larry Johnson	Yao Ming
Season	1993-94	2004-05
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Rockets Lost West 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 Johnson	51	34.5	16.4	2.8	6.0	8.8	3.6	0.6	0.3	2.3	2.6	6.8	13.2	.515	0.1	0.4	.238	2.7	3.9	.695
difference:	+29	+3.9	+1.9	+0.2	+0.2	+0.4	+2.8	+0.2	+1.7	-0.2	-1.1	+0.1	+1.0	+.037	+0.1	+0.4		+2.2	+2.3	+.088
Yao Ming	80	30.6	18.3	2.6	5.8	8.4	0.8	0.4	2.0	2.5	3.7	6.7	12.2	.552	0.0	0.0	-	4.9	6.2	.783
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Yao Ming	7	31.9	21.4	3.3	4.4	7.7	0.7	0.3	2.7	2.7	4.4	7.9	12.0	.655	0.0	0.0	-	5.7	7.9	.727

Season 4
	Larry Johnson	Yao Ming
Season	1994-95	2005-06
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Hornets Lost East Conf 1st Rd	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		%
Larry Johnson	81	39.9	18.8	2.3	4.9	7.2	4.6	1.0	0.3	2.6	2.1	7.2	15.0	.480	1.0	2.6	.386	3.4	4.4	.774
difference:	+24	+5.7	+3.5	+0.3	+2.7	+3.0	+3.1	+0.5	+1.3		-1.3	+1.0	+0.8	+.039	+1.0	+2.6		+2.5	+2.5	+.079
Yao Ming	57	34.2	22.3	2.6	7.6	10.2	1.5	0.5	1.6	2.6	3.4	8.2	15.8	.519	0.0	0.0	-	5.9	6.9	.853
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	4	43.0	20.8	2.5	3.3	5.8	2.8	1.0	0.5	1.5	1.8	7.8	16.3	.477	0.3	2.3	.111	5.0	6.3	.800
Yao Ming	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Larry Johnson	Yao Ming
Season	1995-96	2006-07
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Larry Johnson	81	40.4	20.5	3.1	5.4	8.4	4.4	0.7	0.5	2.2	2.1	7.2	15.1	.476	0.8	2.3	.366	5.3	7.0	.757
difference:	+33	+6.6	+4.5	+1.0	+1.9	+1.0	+2.4	+0.3	+1.5	-1.3	-1.2	+1.6	+2.0	+.040	+0.8	+2.3		+2.1	+1.6	+.105
Yao Ming	48	33.8	25.0	2.1	7.3	9.4	2.0	0.4	2.0	3.5	3.3	8.8	17.1	.516	0.0	0.0	-	7.4	8.6	.862
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Yao Ming	7	37.1	25.1	3.3	7.0	10.3	0.9	0.1	0.7	4.7	3.9	7.9	17.9	.440	0.0	0.0	-	9.4	10.7	.880

Season 6
	Larry Johnson	Yao Ming
Season	1996-97	2007-08
Team	New York Knicks	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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6th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	76	34.4	12.8	2.2	3.0	5.2	2.3	0.8	0.5	1.8	3.3	4.9	9.7	.512	0.4	1.4	.324	2.5	3.6	.693
difference:	+21	+2.8	+9.2	+0.9	+4.7	+5.6		+0.3	+1.5	-1.5	-0.2	+3.0	+5.8	+.005	+0.4	+1.4		+3.8	+3.8	+.157
Yao Ming	55	37.2	22.0	3.1	7.7	10.8	2.3	0.5	2.0	3.3	3.1	7.9	15.5	.507	0.0	0.0	-	6.3	7.4	.850
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	9	32.6	13.8	1.2	2.8	4.0	2.6	0.8	0.1	1.7	3.0	4.8	8.6	.558	0.7	1.9	.353	3.6	4.2	.842
Yao Ming	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 7
	Larry Johnson	Yao Ming
Season	1997-98	2008-09
Team	New York Knicks	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Knicks Lost East Conf Semis	Rockets Lost West Conf Semis

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7th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	70	34.5	15.5	2.5	3.2	5.7	2.1	0.6	0.2	1.8	2.8	6.1	12.6	.485	0.2	0.9	.238	3.1	4.0	.756
difference:	+7	+0.9	+4.2	+0.1	+4.0	+4.2	+0.3	+0.2	+1.7	-1.2	-0.5	+1.3	+0.8	+.063	+0.2	+0.9		+1.8	+1.7	+.110
Yao Ming	77	33.6	19.7	2.6	7.2	9.9	1.8	0.4	1.9	3.0	3.3	7.4	13.4	.548	0.0	0.0	-	4.9	5.7	.866
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	8	38.8	17.9	3.1	3.5	6.6	1.6	1.3	0.4	3.1	3.8	6.5	13.4	.486	0.3	1.3	.200	4.6	6.3	.740
difference:	+1	+2.9	+0.8	+1.0	+5.3	+4.3	+0.6	+0.9	+0.8	-1.2	-0.8	+0.5	+2.4	+.059	+0.3	+1.3		+0.5	+0.6	+.162
Yao Ming	9	35.9	17.1	2.1	8.8	10.9	1.0	0.4	1.2	1.9	3.0	6.0	11.0	.545	0.0	0.0	-	5.1	5.7	.902

Note: Yao Ming didn't play in 2009-10.

Season 8
	Larry Johnson	Yao Ming
Season	1998-99	2010-11
Team	New York Knicks	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Knicks Lost NBA Finals	Did Not Play

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8th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	49	33.4	12.0	1.9	3.9	5.8	2.4	0.7	0.2	1.8	3.0	4.3	9.3	.459	0.7	1.9	.359	2.7	3.3	.817
difference:	+44	+15.2	+1.8	+0.5	+0.1	+0.4	+1.6	+0.7	+1.4	-0.4	-0.4	+0.7	+1.9	+.027	+0.7	+1.9		+0.3	+0.1	+.121
Yao Ming	5	18.2	10.2	1.4	4.0	5.4	0.8	0.0	1.6	1.4	2.6	3.6	7.4	.486	0.0	0.0	-	3.0	3.2	.938
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Larry Johnson	20	34.1	11.5	1.1	3.8	4.9	1.6	1.1	0.1	1.7	3.2	4.4	10.2	.426	1.2	4.1	.293	1.6	2.3	.674
Yao Ming	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-