Lonzo Ball vs. Yao Ming Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Yao Ming 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 Yao Ming, who played 8. Lonzo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2017-18, while Yao Ming had his rookie season in 2002-03. 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	Yao Ming
Season	2017-18	2002-03
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Rookie Second Team	-
	-	All-Star Game
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:	+30	+5.2	+3.3	+1.1	+0.2	+1.3	+5.5	+1.3	+1.0	-0.5	-0.5	+1.0	+1.0	+.138	+1.7	+5.7		+3.1	+3.1	+.360
Yao Ming	82	29.0	13.5	2.4	5.8	8.2	1.7	0.4	1.8	2.1	2.8	4.9	9.8	.498	0.0	0.0	-	3.7	4.5	.811
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor Yao Ming played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Lonzo Ball	Yao Ming
Season	2018-19	2003-04
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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	+2.5	+7.6	+1.3	+2.4	+3.7	+3.9	+1.2	+1.5	-0.3	-0.9	+2.6	+2.8	+.116	+1.6	+4.9		+4.0	+4.4	+.392
Yao Ming	82	32.8	17.5	2.4	6.6	9.0	1.5	0.3	1.9	2.5	3.3	6.5	12.5	.522	0.0	0.0	-	4.4	5.4	.809
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Yao Ming	5	37.6	15.0	2.2	5.2	7.4	1.8	0.4	1.4	2.6	4.0	6.2	13.6	.456	0.0	0.0	-	2.6	3.4	.765

Season 3
	Lonzo Ball	Yao Ming
Season	2019-20	2004-05
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Rockets 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:	+17	+1.5	+6.5	+1.5	+0.8	+2.3	+6.2	+1.0	+1.4	-0.6	-1.7	+2.3	+1.3	+.149	+2.3	+6.3		+4.2	+5.0	+.217
Yao Ming	80	30.6	18.3	2.6	5.8	8.4	0.8	0.4	2.0	2.5	3.7	6.7	12.2	.552	0.0	0.0	-	4.9	6.2	.783
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Yao Ming	7	31.9	21.4	3.3	4.4	7.7	0.7	0.3	2.7	2.7	4.4	7.9	12.0	.655	0.0	0.0	-	5.7	7.9	.727

Season 4
	Lonzo Ball	Yao Ming
Season	2020-21	2005-06
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Houston Rockets
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:	+2	+2.4	+7.7	+2.0	+3.4	+5.4	+4.2	+1.0	+1.0	-0.4	-1.5	+2.9	+3.1	+.105	+3.1	+8.3		+5.0	+5.7	+.072
Yao Ming	57	34.2	22.3	2.6	7.6	10.2	1.5	0.5	1.6	2.6	3.4	8.2	15.8	.519	0.0	0.0	-	5.9	6.9	.853
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor Yao Ming played in the postseason in their season 4

Season 5
	Lonzo Ball	Yao Ming
Season	2021-22	2006-07
Team	Chicago Bulls	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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:	+13	+0.8	+12.0	+1.1	+2.9	+4.0	+3.1	+1.4	+1.1	-1.2	-0.9	+4.2	+6.2	+.093	+3.1	+7.4		+6.8	+7.8	+.112
Yao Ming	48	33.8	25.0	2.1	7.3	9.4	2.0	0.4	2.0	3.5	3.3	8.8	17.1	.516	0.0	0.0	-	7.4	8.6	.862
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Lonzo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Yao Ming	7	37.1	25.1	3.3	7.0	10.3	0.9	0.1	0.7	4.7	3.9	7.9	17.9	.440	0.0	0.0	-	9.4	10.7	.880

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

Season 6
	Lonzo Ball	Yao Ming
Season	2024-25	2007-08
Team	Chicago Bulls	Houston Rockets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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:	+20	+15.0	+14.4	+2.4	+5.0	+7.4	+1.0	+0.8	+1.5	-2.1	-1.5	+5.4	+8.6	+.141	+1.9	+5.6		+5.7	+6.6	+.035
Yao Ming	55	37.2	22.0	3.1	7.7	10.8	2.3	0.5	2.0	3.3	3.1	7.9	15.5	.507	0.0	0.0	-	6.3	7.4	.850
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Lonzo Ball nor Yao Ming played in the postseason in their season 6

Additional Years
* Yao Ming played 2 seasons more than Lonzo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 8, from 2009 to 2011—Yao Ming played in one postseason. In those 2 extra years over Lonzo Ball, Yao Ming got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Star Game