Lonzo Ball vs. Kevin Johnson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Kevin Johnson 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, 6 less than Kevin Johnson, who played 12. Lonzo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2017-18, while Kevin Johnson had his rookie season in 1987-88. 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	Kevin Johnson
Season	2017-18	1987-88
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns
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:	+28	+10.2	+1.0	+0.8	+3.7	+4.5	+1.7	+0.4	+0.5	-0.8	-0.4	+0.5	+3.3	+.101	+1.6	+5.4	+.097	+1.6	+1.2	+.388
Kevin Johnson	80	24.0	9.2	0.5	1.9	2.4	5.5	1.3	0.3	1.8	1.9	3.4	7.5	.461	0.1	0.3	.208	2.2	2.6	.839
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor Kevin Johnson played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Lonzo Ball	Kevin Johnson
Season	2018-19	1988-89
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Phoenix Suns
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Most Improved Player
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Suns 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:	+34	+8.9	+10.5	+0.5	+0.6	+1.1	+6.8	+0.2	+0.1	-1.8	-0.4	+3.1	+4.2	+.099	+1.6	+4.6	+.238	+5.9	+6.1	+.465
Kevin Johnson	81	39.2	20.4	0.6	3.6	4.2	12.2	1.7	0.3	4.0	2.8	7.0	13.9	.505	0.0	0.3	.091	6.3	7.1	.882
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Johnson	12	41.2	23.8	1.0	3.3	4.3	12.3	1.6	0.4	4.6	2.3	7.5	15.2	.495	0.3	0.8	.300	8.5	9.2	.927

Season 3
	Lonzo Ball	Kevin Johnson
Season	2019-20	1989-90
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Phoenix Suns
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Suns Lost West Conf 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:	+11	+5.5	+10.7	+0.5	+1.9	+2.5	+4.4	+0.1	+0.4	-0.5	-0.1	+3.4	+4.8	+.096	+2.2	+5.7	+.180	+6.1	+6.9	+.272
Kevin Johnson	74	37.6	22.5	0.6	3.1	3.6	11.4	1.3	0.2	3.6	1.9	7.8	15.7	.499	0.1	0.6	.195	6.8	8.1	.838
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Johnson	16	36.4	21.3	0.6	2.8	3.3	10.6	1.6	0.0	3.9	1.8	7.7	16.1	.479	0.1	0.7	.182	5.8	7.0	.821

Season 4
	Lonzo Ball	Kevin Johnson
Season	2020-21	1990-91
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Phoenix Suns
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Suns Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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:	+22	+4.2	+7.6	+0.1	+1.4	+1.3	+4.4	+0.6	+0.5	-1.3	-0.4	+2.4	+2.2	+.102	+3.0	+7.7	+.173	+5.8	+6.8	+.062
Kevin Johnson	77	36.0	22.2	0.7	2.8	3.5	10.1	2.1	0.1	3.5	2.3	7.7	14.9	.516	0.1	0.6	.205	6.7	8.0	.843
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Johnson	4	36.5	12.8	0.5	2.8	3.3	9.8	0.5	0.3	3.0	2.3	4.0	13.3	.302	0.3	1.8	.143	4.5	7.5	.600

Season 5
	Lonzo Ball	Kevin Johnson
Season	2021-22	1991-92
Team	Chicago Bulls	Phoenix Suns
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Suns Lost West Conf Semis

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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:	+43	+2.6	+6.7	+0.2	+1.4	+1.7	+5.6	+0.3	+0.6	-1.2	-0.1	+2.3	+3.5	+.056	+3.0	+6.8	+.206	+5.1	+6.3	+.057
Kevin Johnson	78	37.2	19.7	0.8	3.0	3.7	10.7	1.5	0.3	3.5	2.3	6.9	14.4	.479	0.1	0.6	.217	5.7	7.1	.807
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kevin Johnson	8	41.9	23.6	1.0	3.1	4.1	11.6	1.5	0.3	3.1	3.0	7.8	16.0	.484	0.4	0.8	.500	7.8	9.0	.861

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

Additional Years
* Kevin Johnson played 6 seasons more than Lonzo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 12, from 1994 to 2000—Kevin Johnson played in 6 Playoffs. In those 6 extra years over Lonzo Ball, Kevin Johnson got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Star Game