Tiny Archibald vs. LaMelo Ball Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of LaMelo Ball and Tiny Archibald, 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.

Tiny Archibald played 13 years in the NBA, 8 more than LaMelo Ball, who played 5. Tiny Archibald had the first of his seasons in 1970-71, while LaMelo Ball had his rookie season in 2020-21. 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
	Tiny Archibald	LaMelo Ball
Season	1970-71	2020-21
Team	Cincinnati Royals	Charlotte Hornets
Honors & Awards	-	Rookie of the Year
	-	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		%
Tiny Archibald	82	35.0	16.0	-	-	3.0	5.5	-	-	-	2.7	5.9	13.4	.444	-	-	-	4.1	5.4	.757
difference:	+31	+6.2	+0.3			+2.9	+0.6					+0.2	+0.2	+.008				+1.6	+2.2	+.001
LaMelo Ball	51	28.8	15.7	1.2	4.7	5.9	6.1	1.6	0.4	2.8	2.7	5.7	13.2	.436	1.8	5.1	.352	2.5	3.2	.758
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Tiny Archibald nor LaMelo Ball played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Tiny Archibald	LaMelo Ball
Season	1971-72	2021-22
Team	Cincinnati Royals	Charlotte Hornets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second 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		%
Tiny Archibald	76	43.1	28.2	-	-	2.9	9.2	-	-	-	2.6	9.7	19.9	.486	-	-	-	8.9	10.8	.822
difference:	+1	+10.8	+8.1			+3.8	+1.6				-0.6	+2.5	+3.2	+.057				+6.1	+7.6	+.050
LaMelo Ball	75	32.3	20.1	1.4	5.2	6.7	7.6	1.6	0.4	3.3	3.2	7.2	16.7	.429	2.9	7.5	.389	2.8	3.2	.872
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Tiny Archibald nor LaMelo Ball played in the postseason in their season 2

Season 3
	Tiny Archibald	LaMelo Ball
Season	1972-73	2022-23
Team	Kansas City-Omaha Kings	Charlotte Hornets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	Scoring Leader	-
	Assists Leader	-
	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		%
Tiny Archibald	80	46.0	34.0	-	-	2.8	11.4	-	-	-	2.6	12.9	26.3	.488	-	-	-	8.3	9.8	.847
difference:	+44	+10.8	+10.7			+3.6	+3.0				-0.7	+4.7	+6.3	+.077				+5.5	+6.4	+.011
LaMelo Ball	36	35.2	23.3	1.2	5.3	6.4	8.4	1.3	0.3	3.6	3.3	8.2	20.0	.411	4.0	10.6	.376	2.8	3.4	.836
Playoffs Stats
* Neiher Tiny Archibald nor LaMelo Ball played in the postseason in their season 3

Season 5
	Tiny Archibald	LaMelo Ball
Season	1974-75	2024-25
Team	Kansas City-Omaha Kings	Charlotte Hornets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Kings 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		%
Tiny Archibald	82	39.6	26.5	0.6	2.1	2.7	6.8	1.5	0.1	-	2.3	9.3	20.3	.456	-	-	-	8.0	9.1	.872
difference:	+35	+7.6	+1.3	+0.4	+1.8	+2.2	+0.6	+0.4	+0.2		-1.0	+0.7	+1.0	+.051				+3.9	+4.2	+.029
LaMelo Ball	47	32.0	25.2	1.0	3.9	4.9	7.4	1.1	0.3	3.6	3.3	8.6	21.3	.405	3.8	11.2	.339	4.1	4.9	.843
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Tiny Archibald	6	40.3	20.2	0.3	1.5	1.8	5.3	0.7	0.0	-	3.0	7.2	19.7	.364	-	-	-	5.8	7.2	.814
LaMelo Ball	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Tiny Archibald played 8 seasons more than LaMelo Ball in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 6 to 13, from 1976 to 1984—Tiny Archibald played in 4 Playoffs and won one NBA Championship. In those 8 extra years over LaMelo Ball, Tiny Archibald got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	1 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 4 All-Star Game 1 All-Star Game MVP