Deandre Ayton vs. Shaquille O'Neal: Career Scoring Comparison

We break down the scoring legacies of Shaquille O'Neal and Deandre Ayton to determine who has the better numbers. Here you can compare their career totals, points per game, games of 40+ points, 50+, etc. and their year-by-year scoring averages side by side, both in the Regular Season and Playoffs.

Shaquille O'Neal is among the NBA's all-time leaders in points and also has one of the highest career averages in league history, and here we compare his scoring stats with those recorded by Deandre Ayton.

By taking a look at their career numbers for points, the first conclusion one can arrive at is that Shaquille O'Neal has better scoring stats than Deandre Ayton in averages and totals, both in the regular season and Playoffs. However, we won't stop there and we'll go into detail to analyze what these statistics are made up of, from how many games they had in each threshold (30+ points, 40+, 50+, etc.) to their season-by-season scoring averages.

Career Numbers
Who has the better scoring stats?

Points in the Regular Season

In his 19 NBA regular seasons played, Shaquille O'Neal averages 7.3 points more than Deandre Ayton in his 7 seasons (23.7 points against 16.4), and he also scored a total of 22,054 points more (28,596 vs. 6,542).

Points Per Game			Seasons
Deandre Ayton	16.4		7
Shaquille O'Neal	23.7	+7.3	19

Total Points			Seasons
Deandre Ayton	6,542		7
Shaquille O'Neal	28,596	+22,054	19

Scoring Titles
Deandre Ayton	0
Shaquille O'Neal	2	+2

Points by Thresholds

Career Shooting Stats Comparison

Year by Year Points Average Comparison

= NBA Scoring Leader

= NBA Champion

Regular Season

Rookie Season	Points per game		Year	Games
Deandre Ayton	16.3		2019	71
Shaquille O'Neal	23.4	+7.1	1993	81

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
Deandre Ayton	18.2		2020	38
Shaquille O'Neal	29.3	+11.1	1994	81

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
Deandre Ayton	14.4		2021	69
Shaquille O'Neal	29.3	+14.9	1995	79

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
Deandre Ayton	17.2		2022	58
Shaquille O'Neal	26.6	+9.4	1996	54

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
Deandre Ayton	18.0		2023	67
Shaquille O'Neal	26.2	+8.2	1997	51

Season 6	Points per game		Year	Games
Deandre Ayton	16.7		2024	55
Shaquille O'Neal	28.3	+11.6	1998	60

Season 7	Points per game		Year	Games
Deandre Ayton	14.4		2025	40
Shaquille O'Neal	26.3	+11.9	1999	49

Shaquille O'Neal's additional seasons:

* Shaquille O'Neal played 12 seasons more than Deandre Ayton in the NBA. In those years—his seasons 8 to 19, from 2000 to 2011—he averaged 21.6 points in a total of 752 regular season games. During that period, his highest average was 29.7 ppg and his lowest 9.2. In those 12 extra years over Deandre Ayton, Shaquille O'Neal won 1 scoring title.