Purvis Short vs. Karl-Anthony Towns Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Karl-Anthony Towns and Purvis Short, 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.

Purvis Short played 12 years in the NBA, 3 more than Karl-Anthony Towns, who played 9. Purvis Short had the first of his seasons in 1978-79, while Karl-Anthony Towns had his rookie season in 2015-16. 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 achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12
Rookie Season
	Purvis Short	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1978-79	2015-16
Team	Golden State Warriors	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	Rookie of the Year
	-	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	75	22.7	10.6	1.7	2.9	4.6	1.3	0.7	0.2	1.5	3.1	4.9	10.3	.479	-	-	-	0.8	1.1	.671
Karl-Anthony Towns	82	32.0	18.3	2.8	7.7	10.5	2.0	0.7	1.7	2.2	3.0	7.6	14.1	.542	0.4	1.1	.341	2.7	3.4	.811
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Karl-Anthony Towns	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Purvis Short	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1980-81	2017-18
Team	Golden State Warriors	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	79	29.2	16.1	1.9	3.0	4.9	3.2	1.0	0.2	1.8	3.1	6.9	14.6	.475	0.0	0.2	.176	2.1	2.6	.820
Karl-Anthony Towns	82	35.6	21.3	2.9	9.4	12.3	2.4	0.8	1.4	1.9	3.5	7.8	14.3	.545	1.5	3.5	.421	4.2	4.9	.858
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Karl-Anthony Towns	5	34.0	15.2	3.0	10.4	13.4	2.2	0.4	1.0	2.4	2.8	5.6	12.0	.467	0.6	2.2	.273	3.4	4.6	.739

Season 4
	Purvis Short	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1981-82	2018-19
Team	Golden State Warriors	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	76	23.4	14.4	1.6	1.9	3.5	2.8	0.9	0.1	1.6	2.9	6.0	12.3	.488	0.1	0.4	.214	2.3	2.9	.801
Karl-Anthony Towns	77	33.1	24.4	3.4	9.0	12.4	3.4	0.9	1.6	3.1	3.8	8.8	17.1	.518	1.8	4.6	.400	4.9	5.8	.836
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Karl-Anthony Towns	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 7
	Purvis Short	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1984-85	2021-22
Team	Golden State Warriors	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	78	39.5	28.0	2.0	3.1	5.1	3.0	1.5	0.3	3.1	3.3	10.5	22.8	.460	0.6	1.9	.313	6.4	7.9	.817
Karl-Anthony Towns	74	33.5	24.6	2.6	7.2	9.8	3.6	1.0	1.1	3.1	3.6	8.7	16.4	.529	2.0	4.9	.410	5.2	6.3	.822
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Karl-Anthony Towns	6	37.0	21.8	1.8	9.0	10.8	2.2	0.7	2.0	4.5	4.2	6.5	13.3	.488	1.7	3.7	.455	7.2	8.3	.860

Season 9
	Purvis Short	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1986-87	2023-24
Team	Golden State Warriors	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Warriors Lost West Conf Semis	Timberwolves TBD

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	34	27.9	18.3	1.6	2.4	4.0	2.5	1.3	0.2	2.0	3.0	7.1	14.7	.479	0.1	0.5	.235	4.0	4.7	.856
Karl-Anthony Towns	62	32.7	21.8	1.5	6.8	8.3	3.0	0.7	0.7	2.9	3.3	7.7	15.3	.504	2.2	5.3	.416	4.1	4.7	.873
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Purvis Short	10	25.3	14.6	1.2	2.1	3.3	2.7	1.2	0.2	2.1	3.4	5.7	12.3	.463	0.0	0.2	.000	3.2	3.6	.889
Karl-Anthony Towns	7	30.3	19.7	1.4	7.0	8.4	2.4	0.4	0.3	1.9	4.0	6.9	12.0	.571	2.6	4.4	.581	3.4	4.0	.857