Paolo Banchero vs. Kobe Bryant Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Kobe Bryant 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, 16 less than Kobe Bryant, who played 20. Paolo Banchero had the first of his seasons in 2022-23, while Kobe Bryant had his rookie season in 1996-97. 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	Kobe Bryant
Season	2022-23	1996-97
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers Lost West Conf Semis

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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:	+1	+18.3	+12.4	+0.5	+4.5	+5.0	+2.4	+0.1	+0.2	-1.2	-0.8	+4.2	+9.7	+.010	+0.5	+2.1	+.077	+3.6	+5.1	+.081
Kobe Bryant	71	15.5	7.6	0.7	1.2	1.9	1.3	0.7	0.3	1.6	1.4	2.5	5.9	.417	0.7	1.9	.375	1.9	2.3	.819
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kobe Bryant	9	14.8	8.2	0.1	1.1	1.2	1.2	0.3	0.2	1.6	2.6	2.3	6.1	.382	0.7	2.6	.261	2.9	3.3	.867

Season 2
	Paolo Banchero	Kobe Bryant
Season	2023-24	1997-98
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Lakers Lost West Conf 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:	+1	+9.0	+7.2		+3.8	+3.8	+2.9		+0.1	-1.1	-0.4	+3.1	+6.0	+.027	+0.6	+1.6	+.002	+0.5	+1.2	+.069
Kobe Bryant	79	26.0	15.4	1.0	2.1	3.1	2.5	0.9	0.5	2.0	2.3	4.9	11.6	.428	0.9	2.8	.341	4.6	5.8	.794
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:	+4	+17.2	+18.3	+1.4	+5.3	+6.7	+2.5	+0.8	+0.1	-3.6	-0.5	+6.9	+14.4	+.048	+2.0	+4.4	+.186	+2.5	+2.9	+.066
Kobe Bryant	11	20.2	8.7	0.6	1.3	1.9	1.5	0.3	0.7	1.0	2.5	2.8	6.9	.408	0.3	1.3	.214	2.8	4.1	.689

Season 3
	Paolo Banchero	Kobe Bryant
Season	2024-25	1998-99
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Lakers 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:	+4	+3.5	+6.0		+2.2	+2.2	+1.0	+0.6	+0.4	-0.1	-1.0	+1.8	+4.2	+.013	+1.4	+3.9	+.053	+1.2	+2.6	+.112
Kobe Bryant	50	37.9	19.9	1.1	4.2	5.3	3.8	1.4	1.0	3.1	3.1	7.2	15.6	.465	0.5	2.0	.267	4.9	5.8	.839
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:	+3	+0.2	+9.6	+0.8	+0.7	+1.5	+0.4	+1.3	+0.5	-0.9	-0.6	+3.2	+7.0	+.005	+1.4	+2.5	+.096	+1.9	+3.8	+.141
Kobe Bryant	8	39.6	19.8	1.6	5.3	6.9	4.6	1.9	1.3	3.9	3.0	7.6	17.8	.430	1.0	2.9	.348	3.5	4.4	.800

Season 4
	Paolo Banchero	Kobe Bryant
Season	2025-26	1999-00
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive First 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	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:	+60	+2.9		+0.4	+3.1	+2.7	+0.9	+0.8	+0.3	-0.3	-1.0	+1.2	+1.4	+.034	+0.1	+1.6	+.102	+2.3	+4.2	+.111
Kobe Bryant	66	38.2	22.5	1.6	4.7	6.3	4.9	1.6	0.9	2.8	3.3	8.4	17.9	.468	0.7	2.2	.319	5.0	6.1	.821
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kobe Bryant	22	39.0	21.1	1.2	3.3	4.5	4.4	1.5	1.5	2.5	4.0	7.9	17.9	.442	1.0	2.9	.344	4.3	5.7	.754

Additional Years
* Kobe Bryant played 16 seasons more than Paolo Banchero in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 20, from 2001 to 2016—Kobe Bryant played in 11 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 16 extra years over Paolo Banchero, Kobe Bryant got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 11 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 8 All-Defensive First Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 2 Scoring Leader 16 All-Star Game 4 All-Star Game MVP