Paolo Banchero vs. Shaquille O'Neal Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Shaquille O'Neal 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 Shaquille O'Neal, who played 19. Paolo Banchero had the first of his seasons in 2022-23, while Shaquille O'Neal had his rookie season in 1992-93. 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	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2022-23	1992-93
Team	Orlando Magic	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	-	All-Star Game
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:	+9	+4.1	+3.4	+3.0	+3.9	+7.0	+1.8	+0.1	+3.0	-1.0	-1.8	+2.3	+0.5	+.135	+1.2	+4.0		+0.2	+1.5	+.146
Shaquille O'Neal	81	37.9	23.4	4.2	9.6	13.9	1.9	0.7	3.5	3.8	4.0	9.0	16.1	.562	0.0	0.0	-	5.3	8.9	.592
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Paolo Banchero nor Shaquille O'Neal played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Paolo Banchero	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2023-24	1993-94
Team	Orlando Magic	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Magic Lost East 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:	+1	+4.8	+6.7	+3.7	+2.6	+6.3	+3.0		+2.3	-0.4	-1.6	+3.8	+2.0	+.144	+1.5	+4.4		+0.7	+3.5	+.171
Shaquille O'Neal	81	39.8	29.3	4.7	8.5	13.2	2.4	0.9	2.9	2.7	3.5	11.8	19.6	.599	0.0	0.0	-	5.8	10.5	.554
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	+4.6	+6.3	+3.7	+1.1	+4.7	+1.7	+0.4	+2.4	-1.3	-2.3	+2.0	+6.3	+.055	+2.3	+5.7			+4.3	+.284
Shaquille O'Neal	3	42.0	20.7	5.7	7.7	13.3	2.3	0.7	3.0	3.3	4.3	7.7	15.0	.511	0.0	0.0	-	5.3	11.3	.471

Season 3
	Paolo Banchero	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2024-25	1994-95
Team	Orlando Magic	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	Scoring Leader
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Magic Lost NBA 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:	+33	+2.6	+3.4	+3.1	+0.9	+3.9	+2.1	+0.1	+1.8	-0.4	-1.2	+2.8	+0.4	+.131	+1.9	+5.8	+.320	+0.3	+2.4	+.194
Shaquille O'Neal	79	37.0	29.3	4.2	7.3	11.4	2.7	0.9	2.4	2.6	3.3	11.8	20.2	.583	0.0	0.1	.000	5.8	10.8	.533
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:	+16	+1.1	+3.7	+2.1	+1.4	+3.5	+0.9	+0.3	+1.1	-0.5	-0.4	+1.5	+8.7	+.142	+2.4	+5.4		+1.7	+4.2	+.088
Shaquille O'Neal	21	38.3	25.7	4.5	7.4	11.9	3.3	0.9	1.9	3.5	4.0	9.3	16.1	.577	0.0	0.0	-	7.1	12.4	.571

Season 4
	Paolo Banchero	Shaquille O'Neal
Season	2025-26	1995-96
Team	Orlando Magic	Orlando Magic
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Magic Lost East Conf 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:	+49		+3.6	+2.2	+0.1	+2.0	+0.1		+0.7	-0.1	-1.2	+4.0	+1.7	+.171	+0.6	+3.8		+3.8	+1.7	+.263
Shaquille O'Neal	54	36.0	26.6	3.4	7.7	11.0	2.9	0.6	2.1	2.9	3.6	11.0	19.1	.573	0.0	0.0	-	4.6	9.5	.487
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shaquille O'Neal	12	38.3	25.8	4.1	5.9	10.0	4.6	0.8	1.3	3.7	3.3	10.9	18.0	.606	0.0	0.0	-	4.0	10.2	.393

Additional Years
* Shaquille O'Neal played 15 seasons more than Paolo Banchero in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 5 to 19, from 1997 to 2011—Shaquille O'Neal played in 14 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 15 extra years over Paolo Banchero, Shaquille O'Neal got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 8 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-NBA Third Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Scoring Leader 11 All-Star Game 3 All-Star Game MVP