Lonzo Ball vs. Bob McAdoo Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Bob McAdoo 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, 8 less than Bob McAdoo, who played 14. Lonzo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2017-18, while Bob McAdoo had his rookie season in 1972-73. 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	Bob McAdoo
Season	2017-18	1972-73
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Buffalo Braves
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		%
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:	+28	+2.2	+7.8			+2.2	+5.5				-0.9	+3.4	+5.4	+.092				+2.8	+3.0	+.323
Bob McAdoo	80	32.0	18.0	-	-	9.1	1.7	-	-	-	3.2	7.3	16.2	.452	-	-	-	3.4	4.4	.774
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor Bob McAdoo played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Lonzo Ball	Bob McAdoo
Season	2018-19	1973-74
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Buffalo Braves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Braves Lost East Conf Semis

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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		%
Lonzo Ball	47	30.3	9.9	1.1	4.2	5.3	5.4	1.5	0.4	2.2	2.4	3.9	9.7	.406	1.6	4.9	.329	0.4	1.0	.417
difference:	+27	+12.7	+20.7	+2.7	+7.1	+9.8	+3.1	+0.3	+2.9		-1.0	+8.3	+12.6	+.141				+5.8	+6.8	+.376
Bob McAdoo	74	43.0	30.6	3.8	11.3	15.1	2.3	1.2	3.3	-	3.4	12.2	22.3	.547	-	-	-	6.2	7.8	.793
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob McAdoo	6	45.2	31.7	2.3	11.3	13.7	1.5	1.0	2.2	-	4.2	12.7	26.5	.478	-	-	-	6.3	7.8	.809

Season 3
	Lonzo Ball	Bob McAdoo
Season	2019-20	1974-75
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Buffalo Braves
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Braves Lost East Conf Semis

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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:	+19	+11.1	+22.7	+2.6	+5.3	+8.0	+4.8	+0.3	+1.5		-1.4	+9.0	+15.2	+.109				+7.1	+8.5	+.239
Bob McAdoo	82	43.2	34.5	3.7	10.3	14.1	2.2	1.1	2.1	-	3.4	13.4	26.1	.512	-	-	-	7.8	9.7	.805
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob McAdoo	7	46.7	37.4	3.6	9.9	13.4	1.4	0.9	2.7	-	4.1	14.9	30.9	.481	-	-	-	7.7	10.4	.740

Season 4
	Lonzo Ball	Bob McAdoo
Season	2020-21	1975-76
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Buffalo Braves
Honors & Awards	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Braves Lost East Conf Semis

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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:	+23	+10.9	+16.5	+2.5	+5.1	+7.6	+1.7	+0.3	+1.5		-1.9	+6.7	+11.9	+.073				+6.3	+8.2	+.019
Bob McAdoo	78	42.7	31.1	3.1	9.3	12.4	4.0	1.2	2.1	-	3.8	12.0	24.6	.487	-	-	-	7.2	9.4	.762
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob McAdoo	9	45.1	28.0	3.4	10.8	14.2	3.2	0.8	2.0	-	4.1	10.8	23.9	.451	-	-	-	6.4	9.1	.707

Season 5
	Lonzo Ball	Bob McAdoo
Season	2021-22	1976-77
Team	Chicago Bulls	Buffalo Braves, New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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:	+37	+4.3	+12.8	+1.8	+5.7	+7.5	+2.3	+0.7	+0.5		-1.2	+5.7	+9.2	+.089				+4.7	+6.4	+.012
Bob McAdoo	72	38.9	25.8	2.8	10.1	12.9	2.8	1.1	1.4	-	3.6	10.3	20.1	.512	-	-	-	5.3	7.2	.738
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor Bob McAdoo played in the postseason in their season 5

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

Season 6
	Lonzo Ball	Bob McAdoo
Season	2024-25	1977-78
Team	Chicago Bulls	New York Knicks
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Knicks Lost East Conf 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:	+44	+18.1	+18.9	+2.3	+7.1	+9.4	+0.5		+1.1	-3.2	-2.2	+7.8	+12.9	+.154				+5.3	+7.4	+.088
Bob McAdoo	79	40.3	26.5	3.0	9.8	12.8	3.8	1.3	1.6	4.4	3.8	10.3	19.8	.520	-	-	-	5.9	8.2	.727
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bob McAdoo	6	39.7	23.8	1.8	7.8	9.7	3.8	1.2	2.0	3.8	3.2	10.2	21.0	.484	-	-	-	3.5	5.8	.600