Paolo Banchero vs. Elgin Baylor Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Elgin Baylor 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, 10 less than Elgin Baylor, who played 14. Paolo Banchero had the first of his seasons in 2022-23, while Elgin Baylor had his rookie season in 1958-59. 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	Elgin Baylor
Season	2022-23	1958-59
Team	Orlando Magic	Minneapolis Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	Rookie of the Year	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers Lost NBA Finals

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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:	+2	+7.0	+4.9			+8.1	+0.4				-1.7	+1.9	+5.6	+.019				+2.1	+2.4	+.039
Elgin Baylor	70	40.8	24.9	-	-	15.0	4.1	-	-	-	3.9	8.6	21.2	.408	-	-	-	7.6	9.8	.777
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	13	42.8	25.5	-	-	12.0	3.3	-	-	-	4.0	9.4	23.3	.403	-	-	-	6.7	8.7	.770

Season 2
	Paolo Banchero	Elgin Baylor
Season	2023-24	1959-60
Team	Orlando Magic	Minneapolis Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Lakers Lost West Div 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:	+10	+6.0	+7.0			+9.5	+1.9				-1.4	+2.8	+7.8	+.031				+3.0	+4.0	+.007
Elgin Baylor	70	41.0	29.6	-	-	16.4	3.5	-	-	-	3.3	10.8	25.4	.424	-	-	-	8.1	11.0	.732
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	+7.9	+6.4			+5.5	+0.6				-2.2	+2.6	+4.7	+.018				+3.5	+3.4	+.085
Elgin Baylor	9	45.3	33.4	-	-	14.1	3.4	-	-	-	4.2	12.3	26.0	.474	-	-	-	8.8	10.4	.840

Season 3
	Paolo Banchero	Elgin Baylor
Season	2024-25	1960-61
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Lakers Lost West Div Finals

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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:	+27	+8.5	+8.9			+12.3	+0.3				-1.7	+3.8	+9.9	+.022				+3.2	+3.4	+.056
Elgin Baylor	73	42.9	34.8	-	-	19.8	5.1	-	-	-	3.8	12.8	29.7	.430	-	-	-	9.3	11.8	.783
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:	+7	+5.6	+8.7			+6.9	+0.4				-0.1	+3.4	+5.4	+.035				+4.4	+3.6	+.165
Elgin Baylor	12	45.0	38.1	-	-	15.3	4.6	-	-	-	3.7	14.2	30.2	.470	-	-	-	9.8	11.8	.824

Season 4
	Paolo Banchero	Elgin Baylor
Season	2025-26	1961-62
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers Lost NBA Finals

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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	6	35.3	22.5	1.2	7.8	9.0	4.0	0.8	1.2	2.5	2.3	7.2	16.5	.434	0.8	3.8	.217	7.3	10.3	.710
difference:	+42	+9.1	+15.8			+9.6	+0.6				-0.9	+7.0	+16.6	+.006				+2.6	+2.8	+.044
Elgin Baylor	48	44.4	38.3	-	-	18.6	4.6	-	-	-	3.2	14.2	33.1	.428	-	-	-	9.9	13.1	.754
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elgin Baylor	13	43.9	38.6	-	-	17.7	3.6	-	-	-	3.5	14.3	32.7	.438	-	-	-	10.0	12.9	.774

Additional Years
* Elgin Baylor played 10 seasons more than Paolo Banchero in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 14, from 1963 to 1972—Elgin Baylor played in 8 Playoffs. In those 10 extra years over Paolo Banchero, Elgin Baylor got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	6 All-NBA First Team 7 All-Star Game