Spencer Haywood vs. Walker Kessler Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Walker Kessler and Spencer Haywood, 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.

Spencer Haywood played 12 years in the NBA, 9 more than Walker Kessler, who played 3. Spencer Haywood had the first of his seasons in 1970-71, while Walker Kessler had his rookie season in 2022-23. 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
	Spencer Haywood	Walker Kessler
Season	1970-71	2022-23
Team	Seattle Supersonics	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	-	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		%
Spencer Haywood	33	35.2	20.6	-	-	12.0	1.5	-	-	-	2.5	7.9	17.5	.449	-	-	-	4.8	6.6	.734
difference:	+41	+12.2	+11.4			+3.6	+0.6				-0.2	+3.9	+11.9	+.271				+3.7	+4.5	+.218
Walker Kessler	74	23.0	9.2	3.1	5.3	8.4	0.9	0.4	2.3	0.8	2.3	4.0	5.6	.720	0.0	0.0	-	1.1	2.1	.516
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Spencer Haywood nor Walker Kessler played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Spencer Haywood	Walker Kessler
Season	1971-72	2023-24
Team	Seattle Supersonics	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Spencer Haywood	73	43.4	26.2	-	-	12.7	2.0	-	-	-	2.8	9.8	21.3	.461	-	-	-	6.6	8.0	.819
difference:	+9	+20.1	+18.1			+5.2	+1.1				-0.7	+6.2	+15.8	+.193				+5.7	+6.5	+.217
Walker Kessler	64	23.3	8.1	2.6	4.9	7.5	0.9	0.5	2.4	1.0	2.1	3.6	5.5	.654	0.1	0.3	.211	0.9	1.5	.602
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Spencer Haywood nor Walker Kessler played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	Spencer Haywood	Walker Kessler
Season	1972-73	2024-25
Team	Seattle Supersonics	Utah Jazz
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	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		%
Spencer Haywood	77	42.3	29.2	-	-	12.9	2.5	-	-	-	2.8	11.5	24.3	.476	-	-	-	6.1	7.3	.839
difference:	+19	+12.3	+18.1			+0.7	+0.8				-0.6	+6.7	+17.1	+.187				+4.7	+4.7	+.319
Walker Kessler	58	30.0	11.1	4.6	7.6	12.2	1.7	0.6	2.4	1.5	2.2	4.8	7.2	.663	0.1	0.6	.176	1.4	2.6	.520
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Spencer Haywood nor Walker Kessler played in the postseason in their season 3

Additional Years
* Spencer Haywood played 9 seasons more than Walker Kessler in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 12, from 1974 to 1983—Spencer Haywood played in 4 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 9 extra years over Walker Kessler, Spencer Haywood got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Star Game