Lonzo Ball vs. Tim Hardaway Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Tim Hardaway 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, 7 less than Tim Hardaway, who played 13. Lonzo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2017-18, while Tim Hardaway had his rookie season in 1989-90. 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	Tim Hardaway
Season	2017-18	1989-90
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	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:	+27	+0.5	+4.5	+0.6	+2.4	+3.0	+1.5	+0.4	+0.6	-0.7	-0.6	+2.0	+1.7	+.111	+1.4	+4.6	+.031	+2.1	+2.1	+.313
Tim Hardaway	79	33.7	14.7	0.7	3.2	3.9	8.7	2.1	0.2	3.3	2.9	5.9	12.5	.471	0.3	1.1	.274	2.7	3.5	.764
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor Tim Hardaway played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Lonzo Ball	Tim Hardaway
Season	2018-19	1990-91
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Warriors Lost West 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:	+35	+8.9	+13.0		+1.2	+1.3	+4.3	+1.1	+0.3	-1.1	-0.4	+5.1	+9.2	+.070	+0.4	+1.8	+.056	+3.3	+3.6	+.386
Tim Hardaway	82	39.2	22.9	1.1	3.0	4.0	9.7	2.6	0.1	3.3	2.8	9.0	18.9	.476	1.2	3.1	.385	3.7	4.6	.803
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tim Hardaway	9	44.0	25.2	0.6	3.1	3.7	11.2	3.1	0.8	2.8	2.4	10.0	20.6	.486	1.9	5.3	.354	3.3	4.2	.789

Season 3
	Lonzo Ball	Tim Hardaway
Season	2019-20	1991-92
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Warriors 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:	+18	+9.0	+11.6	+0.1	+2.2	+2.3	+3.0	+0.6	+0.4	-0.2	-0.6	+4.7	+8.8	+.058	+0.7	+1.7	+.037	+3.0	+3.6	+.200
Tim Hardaway	81	41.1	23.4	1.0	2.8	3.8	10.0	2.0	0.2	3.3	2.6	9.1	19.7	.461	1.6	4.6	.338	3.7	4.8	.766
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tim Hardaway	4	44.0	24.5	1.5	2.3	3.8	7.3	3.3	0.0	3.5	3.5	8.0	20.0	.400	2.5	7.3	.345	6.0	9.3	.649

Season 4
	Lonzo Ball	Tim Hardaway
Season	2020-21	1992-93
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Golden State Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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:	+11	+7.7	+6.9	+0.3	+1.1	+0.8	+4.9	+0.3	+0.4	-1.1	-0.4	+2.6	+5.0	+.033	+1.6	+3.6	+.048	+3.2	+4.4	+.037
Tim Hardaway	66	39.5	21.5	0.9	3.1	4.0	10.6	1.8	0.2	3.3	2.3	7.9	17.7	.447	1.5	4.7	.330	4.1	5.6	.744
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor Tim Hardaway played in the postseason in their season 4

Note: Tim Hardaway didn't play in 1993-94.

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

Additional Years
* Tim Hardaway played 7 seasons more than Lonzo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 13, from 1997 to 2003—Tim Hardaway played in 6 Playoffs. In those 7 extra years over Lonzo Ball, Tim Hardaway got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA First Team 2 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Star Game