Nickeil Alexander-Walker vs. Gary Payton Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Gary Payton and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, 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.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker played 6 years in the NBA, 11 less than Gary Payton, who played 17. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had the first of his seasons in 2019-20, while Gary Payton had his rookie season in 1990-91. 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
	Nickeil Alexander-Walker	Gary Payton
Season	2019-20	1990-91
Team	New Orleans Pelicans	Seattle Supersonics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Supersonics 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		%
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	47	12.6	5.7	0.2	1.6	1.8	1.9	0.4	0.2	1.1	1.2	2.1	5.7	.368	1.0	2.8	.346	0.5	0.8	.676
difference:	+35	+14.8	+1.5	+1.1		+1.2	+4.5	+1.6		-1.1	-1.8	+1.1	+1.3	+.082	+1.0	+2.6	+.269	+0.3	+0.4	+.035
Gary Payton	82	27.4	7.2	1.3	1.6	3.0	6.4	2.0	0.2	2.2	3.0	3.2	7.0	.450	0.0	0.2	.077	0.8	1.2	.711
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Gary Payton	5	27.0	4.8	1.0	1.6	2.6	6.4	1.6	0.2	1.8	3.2	2.2	5.4	.407	0.0	0.2	.000	0.4	0.4	1.000

Season 4
	Nickeil Alexander-Walker	Gary Payton
Season	2022-23	1993-94
Team	Utah Jazz, Minnesota Timberwolves	Seattle Supersonics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Supersonics 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		%
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	59	15.0	6.2	0.3	1.5	1.7	1.8	0.5	0.4	0.9	1.5	2.2	5.0	.444	1.0	2.7	.384	0.7	1.0	.667
difference:	+23	+20.1	+10.3	+1.0	+0.5	+1.6	+4.2	+1.8	+0.2	-1.2	-1.3	+4.9	+9.1	+.060	+0.8	+2.0	+.106	+1.3	+2.4	+.072
Gary Payton	82	35.1	16.5	1.3	2.0	3.3	6.0	2.3	0.2	2.1	2.8	7.1	14.1	.504	0.2	0.7	.278	2.0	3.4	.595
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	5	29.6	8.4	0.2	1.8	2.0	1.4	0.6	0.2	0.8	1.8	3.0	7.0	.429	2.0	5.0	.400	0.4	0.6	.667
difference:		+6.6	+7.4	+1.0	+0.4	+1.4	+4.2	+1.0	+0.2	-0.8	-1.2	+3.8	+6.8	+.064	+1.4	+3.2	+.067	+1.2	+3.2	+.246
Gary Payton	5	36.2	15.8	1.2	2.2	3.4	5.6	1.6	0.4	1.6	3.0	6.8	13.8	.493	0.6	1.8	.333	1.6	3.8	.421

Season 5
	Nickeil Alexander-Walker	Gary Payton
Season	2023-24	1994-95
Team	Minnesota Timberwolves	Seattle Supersonics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Timberwolves Lost West Conf Finals	Supersonics 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		%
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	82	23.4	8.0	0.4	1.6	2.0	2.5	0.8	0.5	0.9	1.7	2.9	6.6	.439	1.6	4.1	.391	0.6	0.8	.800
difference:		+13.4	+12.6	+0.9	+0.5	+1.4	+4.6	+1.7	+0.3	-1.6	-0.8	+5.5	+9.8	+.070	+0.7	+1.3	+.089	+2.4	+3.4	+.084
Gary Payton	82	36.8	20.6	1.3	2.1	3.4	7.1	2.5	0.2	2.5	2.5	8.4	16.4	.509	0.9	2.8	.302	3.0	4.2	.716
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	16	23.6	7.3	0.3	1.4	1.8	2.3	0.6	0.4	0.9	1.5	2.6	7.0	.366	1.5	5.1	.296	0.6	0.6	1.000
difference:	+12	+19.4	+10.5	+1.2	+0.4	+0.7	+3.0	+0.7	+0.4	-1.1	-1.8	+5.4	+9.8	+.112	+1.0	+2.6	+.096	+0.7	+2.4	+.583
Gary Payton	4	43.0	17.8	1.5	1.0	2.5	5.3	1.3	0.0	2.0	3.3	8.0	16.8	.478	0.5	2.5	.200	1.3	3.0	.417

Season 6
	Nickeil Alexander-Walker	Gary Payton
Season	2024-25	1995-96
Team	Minnesota Timberwolves	Seattle Supersonics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	Defensive Player of the Year
	-	Steals Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Timberwolves Lost West Conf Finals	Supersonics Lost NBA Finals

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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		%
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	82	25.3	9.4	0.7	2.6	3.2	2.7	0.6	0.4	1.2	1.7	3.3	7.5	.438	1.7	4.5	.381	1.1	1.4	.780
difference:	+1	+13.7	+9.9	+0.6	+0.3	+1.0	+4.8	+2.3	+0.2	-2.0	-1.0	+4.3	+8.3	+.046	+0.5	+0.8	+.053	+1.7	+2.4	+.032
Gary Payton	81	39.0	19.3	1.3	2.9	4.2	7.5	2.9	0.2	3.2	2.7	7.6	15.8	.484	1.2	3.7	.328	2.8	3.8	.748
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	15	20.7	8.3	0.5	1.3	1.8	2.3	0.4	0.3	1.5	1.6	2.9	7.5	.389	1.5	4.2	.349	1.0	1.1	.882
difference:	+6	+22.7	+12.4	+0.4	+2.9	+3.3	+4.5	+1.4		-1.5	-1.7	+4.8	+8.4	+.096	+0.5	+0.6	+.061	+2.3	+4.1	+.249
Gary Payton	21	43.4	20.7	0.9	4.2	5.1	6.8	1.8	0.3	3.0	3.3	7.7	15.9	.485	2.0	4.8	.410	3.3	5.2	.633

Additional Years
* Gary Payton played 11 seasons more than Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 7 to 17, from 1997 to 2007—Gary Payton played in 9 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 11 extra years over Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Gary Payton got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 6 All-Defensive First Team 6 All-Star Game