Tristan Thompson vs. Zion Williamson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Zion Williamson and Tristan Thompson, 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.

Tristan Thompson played 14 years in the NBA, 9 more than Zion Williamson, who played 5. Tristan Thompson had the first of his seasons in 2011-12, 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
	Tristan Thompson	Zion Williamson
Season	2011-12	2019-20
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
	All-Rookie Second 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		%
Tristan Thompson	60	23.7	8.2	3.1	3.4	6.5	0.5	0.5	1.0	1.4	2.2	3.2	7.4	.439	0.0	0.0	-	1.8	3.2	.552
difference:	+36	+4.1	+14.3	+0.4	+0.2	+0.2	+1.6	+0.2	+0.6	-1.1	-0.4	+5.6	+7.6	+.144	+0.3	+0.6		+3.0	+4.2	+.088
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 Tristan Thompson nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 1

Season 2
	Tristan Thompson	Zion Williamson
Season	2012-13	2020-21
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	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		%
Tristan Thompson	82	31.3	11.7	3.7	5.7	9.4	1.3	0.7	0.9	1.5	2.9	4.8	9.7	.488	0.0	0.0	-	2.2	3.5	.608
difference:	+21	+1.9	+15.3	+1.0	+1.2	+2.2	+2.4	+0.2	+0.3	-1.2	-0.7	+5.6	+7.3	+.123	+0.2	+0.6		+3.8	+5.2	+.090
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
* Neiher Tristan Thompson nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 2

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

Season 3
	Tristan Thompson	Zion Williamson
Season	2013-14	2022-23
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	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		%
Tristan Thompson	82	31.6	11.7	3.3	5.9	9.2	0.9	0.5	0.4	1.3	2.3	4.4	9.3	.477	0.0	0.0	-	2.9	4.1	.693
difference:	+53	+1.4	+14.3	+1.3	+0.9	+2.2	+3.7	+0.6	+0.2	-2.1	-0.1	+5.4	+6.9	+.131	+0.2	+0.7		+3.2	+4.5	+.021
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
* Neiher Tristan Thompson nor Zion Williamson played in the postseason in their season 3

Season 5
	Tristan Thompson	Zion Williamson
Season	2015-16	2024-25
Team	Cleveland Cavaliers	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	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		%
Tristan Thompson	82	27.7	7.8	3.3	5.7	9.0	0.8	0.5	0.6	0.7	2.5	3.0	5.1	.588	0.0	0.0	-	1.8	3.0	.616
difference:	+52	+0.9	+16.8	+0.8	+1.0	+1.8	+4.5	+0.7	+0.3	-2.3	-0.2	+6.6	+11.8	+.021	+0.1	+0.4		+3.5	+5.0	+.040
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		%
Tristan Thompson	21	29.6	6.7	4.1	4.9	9.0	0.7	0.4	0.9	0.8	2.6	2.3	4.4	.527	0.0	0.0	-	2.0	3.5	.575
Zion Williamson	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-