Shaquille O'Neal vs. Zion Williamson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Zion Williamson and Shaquille O'Neal, 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.

Shaquille O'Neal played 19 years in the NBA, 14 more than Zion Williamson, who played 5. Shaquille O'Neal had the first of his seasons in 1992-93, while Zion Williamson had his rookie season in 2019-20. 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
	Shaquille O'Neal	Zion Williamson
Season	1992-93	2019-20
Team	Orlando Magic	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	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		%
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
difference:	+57	+10.1	+0.9	+1.5	+6.0	+7.6	+0.2		+3.1	-1.3	-2.2	+0.2	+1.1	+.021	+0.3	+0.6		+0.5	+1.5	+.048
Zion Williamson	24	27.8	22.5	2.7	3.6	6.3	2.1	0.7	0.4	2.5	1.8	8.8	15.0	.583	0.3	0.6	.429	4.8	7.4	.640
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Shaquille O'Neal nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Shaquille O'Neal	Zion Williamson
Season	1993-94	2020-21
Team	Orlando Magic	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third 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		%
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
difference:	+20	+6.6	+2.3	+2.0	+4.0	+6.0	+1.3		+2.3		-1.3	+1.4	+2.6	+.012	+0.2	+0.6		+0.2	+1.8	+.144
Zion Williamson	61	33.2	27.0	2.7	4.5	7.2	3.7	0.9	0.6	2.7	2.2	10.4	17.0	.611	0.2	0.6	.294	6.0	8.7	.698
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Zion Williamson didn't play in 2021-22.

Season 3
	Shaquille O'Neal	Zion Williamson
Season	1994-95	2022-23
Team	Orlando Magic	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost NBA Finals	Did Not Play

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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		%
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
difference:	+50	+4.0	+3.3	+2.2	+2.3	+4.4	+1.9	+0.2	+1.8	-0.8	-1.1	+2.0	+4.0	+.025	+0.2	+0.6	+.368	+0.3	+2.2	+.181
Zion Williamson	29	33.0	26.0	2.0	5.0	7.0	4.6	1.1	0.6	3.4	2.2	9.8	16.2	.608	0.2	0.7	.368	6.1	8.6	.714
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Shaquille O'Neal	Zion Williamson
Season	1995-96	2023-24
Team	Orlando Magic	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf Finals	Did Not Play

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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		%
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
difference:	+16	+4.5	+3.7	+1.7	+3.6	+5.2	+2.1	+0.5	+1.4	-0.1	-1.3	+2.1	+3.5	+.003	+0.1	+0.3		+0.4	+2.4	+.215
Zion Williamson	70	31.5	22.9	1.7	4.1	5.8	5.0	1.1	0.7	2.8	2.3	8.9	15.6	.570	0.1	0.3	.333	5.0	7.1	.702
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
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
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Shaquille O'Neal	Zion Williamson
Season	1996-97	2024-25
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Conf Semis	Did Not Play

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5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Shaquille O'Neal	51	38.1	26.2	3.8	8.7	12.5	3.1	0.9	2.9	2.9	3.5	10.8	19.4	.557	0.0	0.1	.000	4.5	9.4	.484
difference:	+21	+9.5	+1.6	+1.3	+4.0	+5.3	+2.2	+0.3	+2.0	-0.1	-0.8	+1.2	+2.5	+.010	+0.1	+0.3	+.231	+0.8	+1.4	+.172
Zion Williamson	30	28.6	24.6	2.5	4.7	7.2	5.3	1.2	0.9	3.0	2.7	9.6	16.9	.567	0.1	0.4	.231	5.3	8.0	.656
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Shaquille O'Neal	9	36.2	26.9	4.2	6.3	10.6	3.2	0.6	1.9	2.4	4.1	9.9	19.2	.514	0.0	0.0	-	7.1	11.7	.610
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Shaquille O'Neal played 14 seasons more than Zion Williamson in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 19, from 1998 to 2011—Shaquille O'Neal played in 13 Playoffs and won 4 NBA Championships. In those 14 extra years over Zion Williamson, Shaquille O'Neal got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	3 Finals MVP 1 Season MVP 8 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 1 All-NBA Third Team 3 All-Defensive Second Team 1 Scoring Leader 10 All-Star Game 3 All-Star Game MVP