LeBron James vs. Zion Williamson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Zion Williamson and LeBron James, 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.

LeBron James played 22 years in the NBA, 17 more than Zion Williamson, who played 5. LeBron James had the first of his seasons in 2003-04, while Zion Williamson had his rookie season in 2019-20. 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
	LeBron James	Zion Williamson
Season	2003-04	2019-20
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LeBron James	79	39.5	20.9	1.3	4.2	5.5	5.9	1.6	0.7	3.5	1.9	7.9	18.9	.417	0.8	2.7	.290	4.4	5.8	.754
difference:	+55	+11.7	+1.6	+1.4	+0.6	+0.8	+3.8	+0.9	+0.3	-1.0	-0.1	+0.9	+3.9	+.166	+0.5	+2.1	+.139	+0.4	+1.6	+.114
Zion Williamson	24	27.8	22.5	2.7	3.6	6.3	2.1	0.7	0.4	2.5	1.8	8.8	15.0	.583	0.3	0.6	.429	4.8	7.4	.640
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LeBron James nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	LeBron James	Zion Williamson
Season	2004-05	2020-21
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

2nd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LeBron James	80	42.4	27.2	1.4	6.0	7.4	7.2	2.2	0.7	3.3	1.8	9.9	21.1	.472	1.4	3.9	.351	6.0	8.0	.750
difference:	+19	+9.2	+0.2	+1.3	+1.5	+0.2	+3.5	+1.3	+0.1	-0.6	-0.4	+0.5	+4.1	+.139	+1.2	+3.3	+.057		+0.7	+.052
Zion Williamson	61	33.2	27.0	2.7	4.5	7.2	3.7	0.9	0.6	2.7	2.2	10.4	17.0	.611	0.2	0.6	.294	6.0	8.7	.698
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher LeBron James nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 2

Note: Zion Williamson didn't play in 2021-22.

Season 3
	LeBron James	Zion Williamson
Season	2005-06	2022-23
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
	All-Star Game MVP	-
Playoffs	Cavaliers Lost East Conf Semis	Did Not Play

more >>

3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LeBron James	79	42.5	31.4	0.9	6.1	7.0	6.6	1.6	0.8	3.3	2.3	11.1	23.1	.480	1.6	4.8	.335	7.6	10.3	.738
difference:	+50	+9.5	+5.4	+1.1	+1.1		+2.0	+0.5	+0.2	-0.1	-0.1	+1.3	+6.9	+.128	+1.4	+4.1	+.033	+1.5	+1.7	+.024
Zion Williamson	29	33.0	26.0	2.0	5.0	7.0	4.6	1.1	0.6	3.4	2.2	9.8	16.2	.608	0.2	0.7	.368	6.1	8.6	.714
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LeBron James	13	46.5	30.8	1.7	6.4	8.1	5.8	1.4	0.7	5.0	3.4	11.2	23.6	.476	1.6	4.8	.333	6.7	9.1	.737
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	LeBron James	Zion Williamson
Season	2006-07	2023-24
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Cavaliers Lost NBA Finals	Did Not Play

more >>

4th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LeBron James	78	40.9	27.3	1.1	5.7	6.7	6.0	1.6	0.7	3.2	2.2	9.9	20.8	.476	1.3	4.0	.319	6.3	9.0	.698
difference:	+8	+9.4	+4.4	+0.6	+1.6	+0.9	+1.0	+0.5		-0.4	-0.1	+1.0	+5.2	+.094	+1.2	+3.7	+.014	+1.3	+1.9	+.004
Zion Williamson	70	31.5	22.9	1.7	4.1	5.8	5.0	1.1	0.7	2.8	2.3	8.9	15.6	.570	0.1	0.3	.333	5.0	7.1	.702
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LeBron James	20	44.7	25.1	1.3	6.8	8.1	8.0	1.7	0.5	3.3	2.0	8.3	20.0	.416	1.1	3.8	.280	7.4	9.8	.755
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	LeBron James	Zion Williamson
Season	2007-08	2024-25
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	-
	All-Star Game MVP	-
Playoffs	Cavaliers Lost East Conf Semis	Did Not Play

more >>

5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LeBron James	75	40.4	30.0	1.8	6.1	7.9	7.2	1.8	1.1	3.4	2.2	10.6	21.9	.484	1.5	4.8	.315	7.3	10.3	.712
difference:	+45	+11.8	+5.4	+0.7	+1.4	+0.7	+1.9	+0.6	+0.2	-0.4	-0.5	+1.0	+5.0	+.083	+1.4	+4.4	+.084	+2.0	+2.3	+.056
Zion Williamson	30	28.6	24.6	2.5	4.7	7.2	5.3	1.2	0.9	3.0	2.7	9.6	16.9	.567	0.1	0.4	.231	5.3	8.0	.656
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LeBron James	13	42.5	28.2	1.2	6.6	7.8	7.6	1.8	1.3	4.2	2.5	8.7	21.2	.411	1.4	5.4	.257	9.4	12.8	.731
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* LeBron James played 17 seasons more than Zion Williamson in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 22, from 2009 to 2025—LeBron James played in 15 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships and one NBA Cup. In those 17 extra years over Zion Williamson, LeBron James got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	4 Finals MVP 4 Season MVP 11 All-NBA First Team 2 All-NBA Second Team 4 All-NBA Third Team 5 All-Defensive First Team 1 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Assists Leader 1 Cup MVP 1 Cup All-Tournament Team 17 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP