Paolo Banchero vs. Magic Johnson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Magic Johnson 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 Magic Johnson, who played 13. Paolo Banchero had the first of his seasons in 2022-23, while Magic Johnson had his rookie season in 1979-80. 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	Magic Johnson
Season	2022-23	1979-80
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	-	All-Star Game
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:	+5	+2.5	+2.0	+1.0	+0.1	+0.8	+3.6	+1.6		-1.2	-0.6	+0.2	+3.3	+.103	+1.1	+3.6	+.072	+0.6	+1.4	+.072
Magic Johnson	77	36.3	18.0	2.2	5.6	7.7	7.3	2.4	0.5	4.0	2.8	6.5	12.3	.530	0.1	0.4	.226	4.9	6.0	.810
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Magic Johnson	16	41.1	18.3	3.3	7.3	10.5	9.4	3.1	0.4	4.1	2.9	6.4	12.4	.518	0.1	0.5	.250	5.3	6.6	.802

Season 2
	Paolo Banchero	Magic Johnson
Season	2023-24	1980-81
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	Steals Leader
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Lakers 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:	+43	+2.1	+1.0	+1.7		+1.7	+3.2	+2.5	+0.1	-0.8	-0.8	+0.4	+1.7	+.077	+1.4	+3.9	+.163	+0.5	+0.9	+.035
Magic Johnson	37	37.1	21.6	2.7	5.9	8.6	8.6	3.4	0.7	3.9	2.7	8.4	15.9	.532	0.1	0.5	.176	4.6	6.1	.760
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	+4.9	+10.0	+0.7	+4.4	+5.1	+3.0	+1.6	+0.4	-0.9	-2.7	+3.4	+5.0	+.068	+2.3	+5.7		+1.0	+0.3	+.105
Magic Johnson	3	42.3	17.0	2.7	11.0	13.7	7.0	2.7	1.0	3.7	4.7	6.3	16.3	.388	0.0	0.0	-	4.3	6.7	.650

Season 3
	Paolo Banchero	Magic Johnson
Season	2024-25	1981-82
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	Finals MVP
	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Steals 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:	+32	+3.9	+7.3	+2.1		+2.1	+4.7	+1.9	+0.2	-0.7	-0.8	+1.9	+6.5	+.085	+1.8	+5.5	+.113	+1.9	+2.8	+.033
Magic Johnson	78	38.3	18.6	3.2	6.4	9.6	9.5	2.7	0.4	3.7	2.9	7.1	13.3	.537	0.1	0.4	.207	4.2	5.6	.760
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:	+9	+0.7	+12.0	+1.5	+1.4	+2.9	+5.1	+2.3	+0.6	-0.1		+4.9	+13.6	+.094	+2.4	+5.1	+.444	+0.1	+1.6	+.169
Magic Johnson	14	40.1	17.4	3.9	7.4	11.3	9.3	2.9	0.2	3.1	3.6	5.9	11.2	.529	0.0	0.3	.000	5.5	6.6	.828

Season 4
	Paolo Banchero	Magic Johnson
Season	2025-26	1982-83
Team	Orlando Magic	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	Assists Leader
	-	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	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:	+74	+0.8	+6.2	+1.5	+1.9	+0.4	+7.5	+1.6	+0.8	-1.0	-0.1	+0.5	+5.6	+.146	+0.6	+3.5	+.158	+4.6	+6.4	+.050
Magic Johnson	79	36.8	16.8	2.7	5.9	8.6	10.5	2.2	0.6	3.8	2.5	6.5	11.8	.548	0.0	0.3	.000	3.8	4.8	.800
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Magic Johnson	15	42.9	17.9	3.4	5.1	8.5	12.8	2.3	0.8	4.3	3.3	6.7	13.7	.485	0.0	0.7	.000	4.5	5.4	.840

Additional Years
* Magic Johnson played 9 seasons more than Paolo Banchero in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 13, from 1984 to 1996—Magic Johnson played in 9 Playoffs and won 3 NBA Championships. In those 9 extra years over Paolo Banchero, Magic Johnson got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 Finals MVP 3 Season MVP 8 All-NBA First Team 3 Assists Leader 8 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP