Yao Ming vs. Lance Stephenson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Lance Stephenson and Yao Ming, 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.

Yao Ming played 8 years in the NBA, 2 less than Lance Stephenson, who played 10. Yao Ming had the first of his seasons in 2002-03, while Lance Stephenson had his rookie season in 2010-11. 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 achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Rookie Season
	Yao Ming	Lance Stephenson
Season	2002-03	2010-11
Team	Houston Rockets	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	82	29.0	13.5	2.4	5.8	8.2	1.7	0.4	1.8	2.1	2.8	4.9	9.8	.498	0.0	0.0	.500	3.7	4.5	.811
Lance Stephenson	12	9.6	3.1	0.1	1.4	1.5	1.8	0.3	0.0	1.3	1.2	1.1	3.3	.333	0.0	0.4	.000	0.9	1.2	.786
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lance Stephenson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Yao Ming	Lance Stephenson
Season	2003-04	2011-12
Team	Houston Rockets	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Pacers Lost East Conf Semis

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	82	32.8	17.5	2.4	6.6	9.0	1.5	0.3	1.9	2.5	3.3	6.5	12.5	.522	0.0	0.0	.000	4.4	5.4	.809
Lance Stephenson	42	10.5	2.5	0.3	1.0	1.3	1.1	0.5	0.1	0.9	0.7	1.1	3.0	.376	0.1	0.7	.133	0.2	0.4	.471
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	5	37.6	15.0	2.2	5.2	7.4	1.8	0.4	1.4	2.6	4.0	6.2	13.6	.456	0.0	0.0	-	2.6	3.4	.765
Lance Stephenson	4	3.0	1.5	0.0	0.0	0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.5	2.3	.222	0.3	0.5	.500	0.3	0.5	.500

Season 3
	Yao Ming	Lance Stephenson
Season	2004-05	2012-13
Team	Houston Rockets	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Pacers Lost East Conf Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	80	30.6	18.3	2.6	5.8	8.4	0.8	0.4	2.0	2.5	3.7	6.7	12.2	.552	0.0	0.0	-	4.9	6.2	.783
Lance Stephenson	78	29.2	8.8	0.6	3.3	3.9	2.9	1.0	0.2	1.4	2.1	3.5	7.7	.460	0.8	2.4	.330	1.0	1.5	.652
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	7	31.9	21.4	3.3	4.4	7.7	0.7	0.3	2.7	2.7	4.4	7.9	12.0	.655	0.0	0.0	-	5.7	7.9	.727
Lance Stephenson	19	35.4	9.4	0.7	6.8	7.6	3.3	1.2	0.1	1.9	2.5	3.6	8.9	.408	0.9	3.4	.281	1.2	1.9	.622

Season 4
	Yao Ming	Lance Stephenson
Season	2005-06	2013-14
Team	Houston Rockets	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Pacers Lost East Conf Finals

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	57	34.2	22.3	2.6	7.6	10.2	1.5	0.5	1.6	2.6	3.4	8.2	15.8	.519	0.0	0.0	.000	5.9	6.9	.853
Lance Stephenson	78	35.3	13.8	1.2	5.9	7.2	4.6	0.7	0.1	2.7	2.5	5.5	11.2	.491	1.1	3.1	.352	1.8	2.5	.711
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lance Stephenson	19	37.1	13.6	1.3	5.6	6.9	4.2	0.8	0.2	2.4	2.9	5.3	11.6	.455	1.3	3.5	.358	1.8	2.6	.714

Season 5
	Yao Ming	Lance Stephenson
Season	2006-07	2014-15
Team	Houston Rockets	Charlotte Hornets
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	48	33.8	25.0	2.1	7.3	9.4	2.0	0.4	2.0	3.5	3.3	8.8	17.1	.516	0.0	0.0	.000	7.4	8.6	.862
Lance Stephenson	61	25.8	8.2	0.6	3.9	4.5	3.9	0.6	0.1	2.1	2.2	3.4	9.0	.376	0.3	1.7	.171	1.1	1.8	.627
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	7	37.1	25.1	3.3	7.0	10.3	0.9	0.1	0.7	4.7	3.9	7.9	17.9	.440	0.0	0.0	-	9.4	10.7	.880
Lance Stephenson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 6
	Yao Ming	Lance Stephenson
Season	2007-08	2015-16
Team	Houston Rockets	Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Grizzlies Lost West Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	55	37.2	22.0	3.1	7.7	10.8	2.3	0.5	2.0	3.3	3.1	7.9	15.5	.507	0.0	0.0	.000	6.3	7.4	.850
Lance Stephenson	69	19.9	8.3	0.6	2.7	3.2	1.9	0.6	0.1	1.4	2.0	3.3	6.9	.481	0.4	1.1	.385	1.3	1.6	.784
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lance Stephenson	4	23.8	13.0	0.3	1.3	1.5	1.8	0.3	0.0	0.8	2.5	5.8	11.0	.523	0.5	1.3	.400	1.0	1.3	.800

Season 7
	Yao Ming	Lance Stephenson
Season	2008-09	2016-17
Team	Houston Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Conf Semis	Pacers Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	77	33.6	19.7	2.6	7.2	9.9	1.8	0.4	1.9	3.0	3.3	7.4	13.4	.548	0.0	0.0	1.000	4.9	5.7	.866
Lance Stephenson	18	20.1	6.8	0.2	2.7	2.9	3.3	0.3	0.2	1.4	1.8	3.0	6.7	.450	0.3	1.1	.300	0.4	0.7	.615
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	9	35.9	17.1	2.1	8.8	10.9	1.0	0.4	1.2	1.9	3.0	6.0	11.0	.545	0.0	0.0	-	5.1	5.7	.902
Lance Stephenson	4	26.8	16.0	0.3	5.0	5.3	2.8	0.5	0.0	1.0	2.8	6.8	13.3	.509	1.8	4.5	.389	0.8	1.0	.750

Note: Yao Ming didn't play in 2009-10.

Season 8
	Yao Ming	Lance Stephenson
Season	2010-11	2017-18
Team	Houston Rockets	Indiana Pacers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Pacers Lost East Conf 1st Rd

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	5	18.2	10.2	1.4	4.0	5.4	0.8	0.0	1.6	1.4	2.6	3.6	7.4	.486	0.0	0.0	-	3.0	3.2	.938
Lance Stephenson	82	22.6	9.2	0.8	4.4	5.2	2.9	0.6	0.2	1.6	2.2	3.7	8.6	.427	0.8	2.8	.289	1.0	1.5	.661
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Yao Ming	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lance Stephenson	7	21.3	10.4	0.4	2.3	2.7	2.9	0.3	0.1	1.3	2.9	4.3	9.3	.462	1.1	3.7	.308	0.7	1.3	.556

Note: Lance Stephenson didn't play in 2019-20 and 2020-21.