Lonzo Ball vs. Bill Sharman Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Bill Sharman and Lonzo 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.

Lonzo Ball played 6 years in the NBA, 5 less than Bill Sharman, who played 11. Lonzo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2017-18, while Bill Sharman had his rookie season in 1950-51. 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
	Lonzo Ball	Bill Sharman
Season	2017-18	1950-51
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Washington Capitols
Honors & Awards	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		%
Lonzo Ball	52	34.2	10.2	1.3	5.6	6.9	7.2	1.7	0.8	2.6	2.3	3.9	10.8	.360	1.7	5.7	.305	0.6	1.4	.451
difference:	+21		+2.0			+3.4	+5.9				-0.5	+0.6	+1.5	+.010				+2.5	+2.1	+.438
Bill Sharman	31	-	12.2	-	-	3.5	1.3	-	-	-	2.8	4.5	12.3	.370	-	-	-	3.1	3.5	.889
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor Bill Sharman played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 3
	Lonzo Ball	Bill Sharman
Season	2019-20	1952-53
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Div 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		%
Lonzo Ball	63	32.1	11.8	1.1	5.0	6.1	7.0	1.4	0.6	3.1	2.0	4.4	10.9	.403	2.3	6.3	.375	0.7	1.2	.566
difference:	+8	+0.8	+4.4			+2.0	+4.3				-1.4	+1.3	+2.1	+.033				+4.1	+4.4	+.284
Bill Sharman	71	32.9	16.2	-	-	4.1	2.7	-	-	-	3.4	5.7	13.0	.436	-	-	-	4.8	5.6	.850
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bill Sharman	6	33.5	11.7	-	-	2.5	2.5	-	-	-	4.3	3.3	10.0	.333	-	-	-	5.0	5.3	.938

Season 4
	Lonzo Ball	Bill Sharman
Season	2020-21	1953-54
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Div Finals

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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		%
Lonzo Ball	55	31.8	14.6	0.6	4.2	4.8	5.7	1.5	0.6	2.2	1.9	5.3	12.7	.414	3.1	8.3	.378	0.9	1.2	.781
difference:	+17	+2.5	+1.4			+1.3	+2.5				-1.0	+0.4		+.036				+3.7	+4.2	+.063
Bill Sharman	72	34.3	16.0	-	-	3.5	3.2	-	-	-	2.9	5.7	12.7	.450	-	-	-	4.6	5.4	.844
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bill Sharman	6	34.3	18.8	-	-	4.2	1.7	-	-	-	4.8	5.8	13.5	.432	-	-	-	7.2	8.3	.860

Season 5
	Lonzo Ball	Bill Sharman
Season	2021-22	1954-55
Team	Chicago Bulls	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Div Finals

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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		%
Lonzo Ball	35	34.6	13.0	1.0	4.4	5.4	5.1	1.8	0.9	2.3	2.4	4.6	10.9	.423	3.1	7.4	.423	0.6	0.8	.750
difference:	+33	+1.5	+5.4			+1.0	+1.0				-0.7	+2.1	+4.7	+.004				+4.5	+4.9	+.147
Bill Sharman	68	36.1	18.4	-	-	4.4	4.1	-	-	-	3.1	6.7	15.6	.427	-	-	-	5.1	5.7	.897
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bill Sharman	7	41.4	20.7	-	-	5.4	5.4	-	-	-	3.4	7.9	15.7	.500	-	-	-	5.0	5.4	.921

Note: Lonzo Ball didn't play in 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Season 6
	Lonzo Ball	Bill Sharman
Season	2024-25	1955-56
Team	Chicago Bulls	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Div Semis

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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		%
Lonzo Ball	35	22.2	7.6	0.7	2.7	3.4	3.3	1.3	0.5	1.2	1.6	2.5	6.9	.366	1.9	5.6	.344	0.6	0.8	.815
difference:	+37	+15.3	+12.3			+0.2	+1.4				-1.1	+5.0	+10.2	+.072				+4.4	+4.9	+.052
Bill Sharman	72	37.5	19.9	-	-	3.6	4.7	-	-	-	2.7	7.5	17.1	.438	-	-	-	5.0	5.7	.867
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bill Sharman	3	39.7	17.3	-	-	2.3	4.0	-	-	-	2.3	6.0	15.3	.391	-	-	-	5.3	5.7	.941

Additional Years
* Bill Sharman played 5 seasons more than Lonzo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 11, from 1957 to 1961—Bill Sharman played in 5 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 5 extra years over Lonzo Ball, Bill Sharman got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 4 All-Star Game