Magic Johnson vs. Dalton Knecht Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Dalton Knecht and Magic Johnson, 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.

Magic Johnson played 13 years in the NBA, 11 more than Dalton Knecht, who played 2. Magic Johnson had the first of his seasons in 1979-80, while Dalton Knecht had his rookie season in 2024-25. 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
	Magic Johnson	Dalton Knecht
Season	1979-80	2024-25
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	Finals MVP	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Lakers Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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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		%
Magic Johnson	77	36.3	18.0	2.2	5.6	7.7	7.3	2.4	0.5	4.0	2.8	6.5	12.3	.530	0.1	0.4	.226	4.9	6.0	.810
difference:	+1	+17.1	+8.9	+1.7	+3.3	+4.9	+6.5	+2.1	+0.4	-3.5	-1.6	+3.2	+5.2	+.069	+1.5	+4.0	+.150	+4.1	+4.9	+.048
Dalton Knecht	78	19.2	9.1	0.5	2.3	2.8	0.8	0.3	0.1	0.5	1.2	3.3	7.1	.461	1.6	4.4	.376	0.8	1.1	.762
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Magic Johnson	16	41.1	18.3	3.3	7.3	10.5	9.4	3.1	0.4	4.1	2.9	6.4	12.4	.518	0.1	0.5	.250	5.3	6.6	.802
difference:	+14	+39.1	+15.8	+2.3	+6.8	+9.0	+9.4	+3.1	+0.4	-4.1	-2.9	+5.4	+9.9	+.118	+0.4	+1.5		+5.3	+6.6
Dalton Knecht	2	2.0	2.5	1.0	0.5	1.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	2.5	.400	0.5	2.0	.250	0.0	0.0	-

Season 2
	Magic Johnson	Dalton Knecht
Season	1980-81	2025-26
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	Steals Leader	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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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		%
Magic Johnson	37	37.1	21.6	2.7	5.9	8.6	8.6	3.4	0.7	3.9	2.7	8.4	15.9	.532	0.1	0.5	.176	4.6	6.1	.760
difference:	+24	+18.2	+14.0	+2.1	+4.1	+6.2	+8.0	+2.9	+0.2	-3.3	-1.2	+5.4	+9.4	+.068	+1.1	+3.0	+.150	+4.1	+5.4	+.093
Dalton Knecht	13	18.9	7.6	0.6	1.8	2.4	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.6	1.5	3.0	6.5	.464	1.2	3.5	.326	0.5	0.7	.667
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Magic Johnson	3	42.3	17.0	2.7	11.0	13.7	7.0	2.7	1.0	3.7	4.7	6.3	16.3	.388	0.0	0.0	-	4.3	6.7	.650
Dalton Knecht	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Magic Johnson played 11 seasons more than Dalton Knecht in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 3 to 13, from 1982 to 1996—Magic Johnson played in 11 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 11 extra years over Dalton Knecht, Magic Johnson got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Finals MVP 3 Season MVP 9 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 4 Assists Leader 1 Steals Leader 10 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP