Paolo Banchero vs. Bill Russell Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Bill Russell and Paolo Banchero, 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.

Paolo Banchero played 4 years in the NBA, 9 less than Bill Russell, who played 13. Paolo Banchero had the first of his seasons in 2022-23, while Bill Russell had his rookie season in 1956-57. 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
	Paolo Banchero	Bill Russell
Season	2022-23	1956-57
Team	Orlando Magic	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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		%
Paolo Banchero	72	33.8	20.0	1.2	5.7	6.9	3.7	0.8	0.5	2.8	2.2	6.7	15.6	.427	1.2	4.0	.298	5.5	7.4	.738
difference:	+24	+1.5	+5.3			+12.7	+1.9				-0.8	+0.9	+2.1					+2.3	+1.0	+.246
Bill Russell	48	35.3	14.7	-	-	19.6	1.8	-	-	-	3.0	5.8	13.5	.427	-	-	-	3.2	6.4	.492
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bill Russell	10	40.9	13.9	-	-	24.4	3.2	-	-	-	4.1	5.4	14.8	.365	-	-	-	3.1	6.1	.508

Season 2
	Paolo Banchero	Bill Russell
Season	2023-24	1957-58
Team	Orlando Magic	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	Season MVP
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Rebounds Leader
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Celtics Lost NBA 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		%
Paolo Banchero	80	35.0	22.6	1.0	5.9	6.9	5.4	0.9	0.6	3.1	1.9	8.0	17.6	.455	1.5	4.4	.339	5.1	7.0	.725
difference:	+11	+3.3	+6.0			+15.8	+2.5				-0.7	+1.4	+2.6	+.013				+1.8	+0.6	+.206
Bill Russell	69	38.3	16.6	-	-	22.7	2.9	-	-	-	2.6	6.6	15.0	.442	-	-	-	3.3	6.4	.519
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	7	37.4	27.0	2.0	6.6	8.6	4.0	1.1	0.6	4.6	2.0	9.7	21.3	.456	2.3	5.7	.400	5.3	7.0	.755
difference:	+2	+2.0	+11.9			+16.0	+1.3				-0.7	+4.4	+6.5	+.095				+0.9	+0.3	+.149
Bill Russell	9	39.4	15.1	-	-	24.6	2.7	-	-	-	2.7	5.3	14.8	.361	-	-	-	4.4	7.3	.606

Season 3
	Paolo Banchero	Bill Russell
Season	2024-25	1958-59
Team	Orlando Magic	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Rebounds Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	NBA Champion

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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		%
Paolo Banchero	46	34.4	25.9	1.1	6.4	7.5	4.8	0.8	0.6	3.0	2.1	9.0	19.8	.452	1.9	5.9	.320	6.1	8.4	.727
difference:	+24	+8.2	+9.2			+15.5	+1.6				-0.2	+2.5	+5.6	+.005				+2.4	+2.3	+.129
Bill Russell	70	42.6	16.7	-	-	23.0	3.2	-	-	-	2.3	6.5	14.2	.457	-	-	-	3.7	6.1	.598
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	5	39.4	29.4	2.4	6.0	8.4	4.2	0.6	0.8	3.0	3.6	10.8	24.8	.435	2.4	5.4	.444	5.4	8.2	.659
difference:	+6	+5.7	+13.9			+19.3	+0.6				-1.1	+4.9	+10.3	+.026				+1.7	+2.1	+.047
Bill Russell	11	45.1	15.5	-	-	27.7	3.6	-	-	-	2.5	5.9	14.5	.409	-	-	-	3.7	6.1	.612

Season 4
	Paolo Banchero	Bill Russell
Season	2025-26	1959-60
Team	Orlando Magic	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	NBA Champion

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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		%
Paolo Banchero	5	36.0	23.0	1.2	7.8	9.0	3.0	0.6	1.4	2.8	2.4	7.0	17.4	.402	0.6	3.8	.158	8.4	11.2	.750
difference:	+69	+6.5	+4.8			+15.0	+0.7				-0.4	+0.5	+1.3	+.065				+5.2	+5.9	+.138
Bill Russell	74	42.5	18.2	-	-	24.0	3.7	-	-	-	2.8	7.5	16.1	.467	-	-	-	3.2	5.3	.612
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bill Russell	13	44.0	18.5	-	-	25.8	2.9	-	-	-	2.9	7.2	15.8	.456	-	-	-	4.1	5.8	.707

Additional Years
* Bill Russell played 9 seasons more than Paolo Banchero in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 13, from 1961 to 1969—Bill Russell played in 9 Playoffs and won 8 NBA Championships. In those 9 extra years over Paolo Banchero, Bill Russell got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	4 Season MVP 2 All-NBA First Team 6 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-Defensive First Team 2 Rebounds Leader 9 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP