Steve Francis vs. Karl-Anthony Towns Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Karl-Anthony Towns and Steve Francis, 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.

Steve Francis played 9 years in the NBA, 1 less than Karl-Anthony Towns, who played 10. Steve Francis had the first of his seasons in 1999-00, 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 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
	Steve Francis	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	1999-00	2015-16
Team	Houston Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	77	36.1	18.0	2.0	3.3	5.3	6.6	1.5	0.4	4.0	3.0	6.5	14.5	.445	1.4	4.0	.345	3.7	4.7	.786
difference:	+5	+4.1	+0.3	+0.8	+4.4	+5.2	+4.6	+0.8	+1.3	-1.8		+1.1	+0.4	+.097	+1.0	+2.9	+.004	+1.0	+1.3	+.025
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
* Neiher Steve Francis nor Karl-Anthony Towns played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 3
	Steve Francis	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	2001-02	2017-18
Team	Houston Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

more >>

3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	57	41.1	21.6	1.8	5.2	7.0	6.4	1.2	0.4	3.9	3.0	7.4	17.7	.417	1.2	3.7	.324	5.7	7.4	.773
difference:	+25	+5.5	+0.3	+1.1	+4.2	+5.3	+4.0	+0.4	+1.0	-2.0	-0.5	+0.4	+3.4	+.128	+0.3	+0.2	+.097	+1.5	+2.5	+.085
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		%
Steve Francis	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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
	Steve Francis	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	2002-03	2018-19
Team	Houston Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

more >>

4th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	81	41.0	21.0	2.0	4.2	6.2	6.2	1.7	0.5	3.7	3.1	7.0	16.2	.435	1.0	3.0	.354	5.9	7.3	.800
difference:	+4	+7.9	+3.4	+1.4	+4.8	+6.2	+2.8	+0.8	+1.1	-0.6	-0.7	+1.8	+0.9	+.083	+0.8	+1.6	+.046	+1.0	+1.5	+.036
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
* Neiher Steve Francis nor Karl-Anthony Towns played in the postseason in their season 4

Season 5
	Steve Francis	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	2003-04	2019-20
Team	Houston Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

more >>

5th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	79	40.4	16.6	1.5	4.0	5.5	6.2	1.8	0.4	3.7	3.3	5.7	14.1	.403	0.9	3.2	.292	4.3	5.5	.775
difference:	+44	+6.5	+9.9	+1.2	+4.1	+5.3	+1.8	+0.9	+0.8	-0.6		+3.3	+3.7	+.105	+2.4	+4.7	+.120	+0.8	+1.0	+.021
Karl-Anthony Towns	35	33.9	26.5	2.7	8.1	10.8	4.4	0.9	1.2	3.1	3.3	9.0	17.8	.508	3.3	7.9	.412	5.1	6.5	.796
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	5	44.6	19.2	1.2	7.2	8.4	7.6	1.4	0.2	4.2	3.6	6.0	14.0	.429	1.4	3.4	.412	5.8	8.0	.725
Karl-Anthony Towns	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 7
	Steve Francis	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	2005-06	2021-22
Team	Orlando Magic, New York Knicks	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Third Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf 1st Rd

more >>

7th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	70	34.2	14.4	1.1	3.1	4.1	4.9	1.1	0.2	3.1	2.9	4.8	10.9	.435	0.4	1.2	.301	4.5	5.7	.787
difference:	+4	+0.7	+10.2	+1.5	+4.1	+5.7	+1.3	+0.1	+0.9		-0.7	+3.9	+5.5	+.094	+1.6	+3.7	+.109	+0.7	+0.6	+.035
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		%
Steve Francis	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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
	Steve Francis	Karl-Anthony Towns
Season	2007-08	2023-24
Team	Houston Rockets	Minnesota Timberwolves
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Timberwolves Lost West Conf Finals

more >>

9th Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Steve Francis	10	19.9	5.5	0.8	1.5	2.3	3.0	0.9	0.5	1.4	2.5	1.9	5.7	.333	0.4	1.7	.235	1.3	2.3	.565
difference:	+52	+12.8	+16.3	+0.7	+5.3	+6.0		+0.2	+0.2	-1.5	-0.8	+5.8	+9.6	+.171	+1.8	+3.6	+.181	+2.8	+2.4	+.308
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		%
Steve Francis	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Karl-Anthony Towns	16	32.6	19.1	2.2	6.8	9.0	2.6	0.8	0.2	1.7	3.4	6.8	14.5	.466	1.9	5.2	.361	3.7	4.3	.855

Additional Years
* Karl-Anthony Towns played 1 season more than Steve Francis in the NBA. In that period—his season 10 in 2025—Karl-Anthony Towns played in the Playoffs. In that extra year over Steve Francis, Karl-Anthony Towns got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA Third Team 1 All-Star Game