Paolo Banchero vs. LeBron James Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of LeBron James 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 3 years in the NBA, 19 less than LeBron James, who played 22. Paolo Banchero had the first of his seasons in 2022-23, while LeBron James had his rookie season in 2003-04. 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	LeBron James
Season	2022-23	2003-04
Team	Orlando Magic	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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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:	+7	+5.7	+0.9	+0.1	+1.5	+1.4	+2.2	+0.8	+0.2	-0.7	-0.3	+1.2	+3.3	+.010	+0.4	+1.3	+.008	+1.1	+1.6	+.016
LeBron James	79	39.5	20.9	1.3	4.2	5.5	5.9	1.6	0.7	3.5	1.9	7.9	18.9	.417	0.8	2.7	.290	4.4	5.8	.754
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Paolo Banchero nor LeBron James played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Paolo Banchero	LeBron James
Season	2023-24	2004-05
Team	Orlando Magic	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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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:		+7.4	+4.6	+0.4	+0.1	+0.5	+1.8	+1.3	+0.1	-0.2	-0.1	+1.9	+3.5	+.017	+0.1	+0.5	+.012	+0.9	+1.0	+.025
LeBron James	80	42.4	27.2	1.4	6.0	7.4	7.2	2.2	0.7	3.3	1.8	9.9	21.1	.472	1.4	3.9	.351	6.0	8.0	.750
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
LeBron James	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Paolo Banchero	LeBron James
Season	2024-25	2005-06
Team	Orlando Magic	Cleveland Cavaliers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Cavaliers Lost East 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:	+33	+8.1	+5.5	+0.2	+0.3	+0.5	+1.8	+0.8	+0.2	-0.3	-0.2	+2.1	+3.3	+.028	+0.3	+1.1	+.015	+1.5	+1.9	+.011
LeBron James	79	42.5	31.4	0.9	6.1	7.0	6.6	1.6	0.8	3.3	2.3	11.1	23.1	.480	1.6	4.8	.335	7.6	10.3	.738
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:	+8	+7.1	+1.4	+0.7	+0.4	+0.3	+1.6	+0.8	+0.1	-2.0	-0.2	+0.4	+1.2	+.041	+0.8	+0.6	+.111	+1.3	+0.9	+.078
LeBron James	13	46.5	30.8	1.7	6.4	8.1	5.8	1.4	0.7	5.0	3.4	11.2	23.6	.476	1.6	4.8	.333	6.7	9.1	.737

Additional Years
* LeBron James played 19 seasons more than Paolo Banchero in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 22, from 2007 to 2025—LeBron James played in 17 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships and one NBA Cup. In those 19 extra years over Paolo Banchero, LeBron James got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	4 Finals MVP 4 Season MVP 12 All-NBA First Team 3 All-NBA Second Team 4 All-NBA Third Team 5 All-Defensive First Team 1 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Scoring Leader 1 Assists Leader 1 Cup MVP 1 Cup All-Tournament Team 19 All-Star Game 2 All-Star Game MVP