Lonzo Ball vs. David Thompson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of David Thompson 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, 2 less than David Thompson, who played 8. Lonzo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2017-18, while David Thompson had his rookie season in 1976-77. 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	David Thompson
Season	2017-18	1976-77
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-Rookie Second Team	-
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Nuggets Lost West Conf Semis

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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:	+30	+2.4	+15.7	+0.4	+3.2	+2.8	+3.1	+0.3	+0.2		-0.6	+6.1	+9.0	+.147				+5.2	+6.2	+.315
David Thompson	82	36.6	25.9	1.7	2.4	4.1	4.1	1.4	0.6	-	2.9	10.0	19.8	.507	-	-	-	5.8	7.6	.766
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
David Thompson	6	39.5	24.7	2.2	3.0	5.2	4.0	1.5	0.7	-	3.7	9.3	20.2	.463	-	-	-	6.0	8.8	.679

Season 2
	Lonzo Ball	David Thompson
Season	2018-19	1977-78
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Nuggets Lost West Conf Finals

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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:	+33	+7.5	+17.3	+0.9	+1.3	+0.4	+0.9	+0.3	+0.8	-0.9	-0.3	+6.4	+10.1	+.115				+6.1	+7.4	+.361
David Thompson	80	37.8	27.2	2.0	2.9	4.9	4.5	1.2	1.2	3.1	2.7	10.3	19.8	.521	-	-	-	6.5	8.4	.778
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
David Thompson	13	37.0	25.2	1.4	2.7	4.1	4.0	0.7	1.6	3.0	2.6	10.1	22.4	.450	-	-	-	5.1	6.2	.825

Season 3
	Lonzo Ball	David Thompson
Season	2019-20	1978-79
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Nuggets 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		%
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:	+13	+3.0	+12.2	+0.3	+2.8	+2.5	+4.0	+0.5	+0.5	-0.7	-0.4	+4.7	+6.9	+.109				+5.1	+6.5	+.187
David Thompson	76	35.1	24.0	1.4	2.2	3.6	3.0	0.9	1.1	2.4	2.4	9.1	17.8	.512	-	-	-	5.8	7.7	.753
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
David Thompson	3	40.7	28.0	2.3	4.7	7.0	4.0	1.3	0.3	4.0	4.0	12.7	23.0	.551	-	-	-	2.7	3.7	.727

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

Additional Years
* David Thompson played 2 seasons more than Lonzo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 8, from 1983 to 1984—David Thompson played in one postseason. In those 2 extra years over Lonzo Ball, David Thompson got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-Star Game