Paolo Banchero vs. Karl Malone Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Karl Malone 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, 15 less than Karl Malone, who played 19. Paolo Banchero had the first of his seasons in 2022-23, while Karl Malone had his rookie season in 1985-86. 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	Karl Malone
Season	2022-23	1985-86
Team	Orlando Magic	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Jazz 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		%
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:	+9	+3.2	+5.1	+0.9	+1.0	+2.0	+0.8	+0.5		-0.6	-1.4	+0.5	+3.1	+.069	+1.2	+4.0		+3.1	+2.4	+.257
Karl Malone	81	30.6	14.9	2.1	6.7	8.9	2.9	1.3	0.5	3.4	3.6	6.2	12.5	.496	0.0	0.0	-	2.4	5.0	.481
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Karl Malone	4	36.0	21.8	1.5	6.0	7.5	1.0	2.0	0.0	1.5	4.5	9.5	18.0	.528	0.0	0.0	-	2.8	6.5	.423

Season 2
	Paolo Banchero	Karl Malone
Season	2023-24	1986-87
Team	Orlando Magic	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Jazz 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		%
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:	+2	+0.2	+0.9	+2.4	+1.1	+3.5	+3.5	+0.4	+0.1	-0.2	-2.0	+0.9	+0.3	+.057	+1.5	+4.3	+.339	+1.2	+0.4	+.127
Karl Malone	82	34.8	21.7	3.4	7.0	10.4	1.9	1.3	0.7	2.9	3.9	8.9	17.3	.512	0.0	0.1	.000	3.9	6.6	.598
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	+2.6	+7.0	+1.0		+1.0	+2.8	+1.1	+0.2	-1.2	-2.0	+2.3	+3.7	+.036	+2.3	+5.7		+0.1	+0.2	+.033
Karl Malone	5	40.0	20.0	3.0	6.6	9.6	1.2	2.2	0.8	3.4	4.0	7.4	17.6	.420	0.0	0.0	-	5.2	7.2	.722

Season 3
	Paolo Banchero	Karl Malone
Season	2024-25	1987-88
Team	Orlando Magic	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Jazz Lost West Conf Semis

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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:	+36	+4.6	+1.8	+2.3	+2.2	+4.5	+2.4	+0.6		-1.0	-1.5	+1.5	+0.3	+.068	+1.9	+5.8	+.320	+0.6	+1.2	+.027
Karl Malone	82	39.0	27.7	3.4	8.6	12.0	2.4	1.4	0.6	4.0	3.6	10.5	20.1	.520	0.0	0.1	.000	6.7	9.6	.700
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	+5.5	+0.3	+0.6	+2.8	+3.4	+2.7	+0.6	+0.2	-0.5	-0.4	+0.4	+1.6	+.047	+2.4	+5.3	+.444	+2.0	+2.0	+.064
Karl Malone	11	44.9	29.7	3.0	8.8	11.8	1.5	1.2	0.6	3.5	3.2	11.2	23.2	.482	0.0	0.1	.000	7.4	10.2	.723

Season 4
	Paolo Banchero	Karl Malone
Season	2025-26	1988-89
Team	Orlando Magic	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Jazz 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		%
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:	+75	+3.1	+6.1	+2.0	+0.4	+1.7	+0.3	+1.2	+0.5	-0.8	-1.2	+3.1	+2.1	+.117	+0.5	+3.6	+.155	+0.4	+0.3	+.016
Karl Malone	80	39.1	29.1	3.2	7.4	10.7	2.7	1.8	0.9	3.6	3.6	10.1	19.5	.519	0.1	0.2	.313	8.8	11.5	.766
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Karl Malone	3	45.3	30.7	7.3	9.0	16.3	1.3	1.0	0.3	4.3	5.3	11.0	22.0	.500	0.0	0.0	-	8.7	10.7	.813

Additional Years
* Karl Malone played 15 seasons more than Paolo Banchero in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 19, from 1990 to 2004—Karl Malone played in 15 Playoffs. In those 15 extra years over Paolo Banchero, Karl Malone got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Season MVP 10 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 3 All-Defensive First Team 12 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP