Yao Ming vs. Shaquille O'Neal: Career Scoring Comparison

We break down the scoring legacies of Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming 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 Yao Ming.

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 Yao Ming 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 4.7 points more than Yao Ming in his 8 seasons (23.7 points against 19.0), and he also scored a total of 19,349 points more (28,596 vs. 9,247).

Points Per Game			Seasons
Yao Ming	19.0		8
Shaquille O'Neal	23.7	+4.7	19

Total Points			Seasons
Yao Ming	9,247		8
Shaquille O'Neal	28,596	+19,349	19

Scoring Titles
Yao Ming	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
Yao Ming	13.5		2003	82
Shaquille O'Neal	23.4	+9.9	1993	81

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	17.5		2004	82
Shaquille O'Neal	29.3	+11.8	1994	81

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	18.3		2005	80
Shaquille O'Neal	29.3	+11.0	1995	79

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	22.3		2006	57
Shaquille O'Neal	26.6	+4.3	1996	54

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	25.0		2007	48
Shaquille O'Neal	26.2	+1.2	1997	51

Season 6	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	22.0		2008	55
Shaquille O'Neal	28.3	+6.3	1998	60

Season 7	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	19.7		2009	77
Shaquille O'Neal	26.3	+6.6	1999	49

Season 8	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	10.2		2011	5
Shaquille O'Neal	29.7	+19.5	2000	79

Shaquille O'Neal's additional seasons:

* Shaquille O'Neal played 11 seasons more than Yao Ming in the NBA. In those years—his seasons 9 to 19, from 2001 to 2011—he averaged 20.7 points in a total of 673 regular season games. During that period, his highest average was 28.7 ppg and his lowest 9.2.

Playoffs

Rookie Season	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	-	DNP	2003	0
Shaquille O'Neal	-	DNP	1993	0

Season 2	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	15.0		2004	5
Shaquille O'Neal	20.7	+5.7	1994	3

Season 3	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	21.4		2005	7
Shaquille O'Neal	25.7	+4.3	1995	21

Season 4	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	-	DNP	2006	0
Shaquille O'Neal	25.8	+25.8	1996	12

Season 5	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	25.1		2007	7
Shaquille O'Neal	26.9	+1.8	1997	9

Season 6	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	-	DNP	2008	0
Shaquille O'Neal	30.5	+30.5	1998	13

Season 7	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	17.1		2009	9
Shaquille O'Neal	26.6	+9.5	1999	8

Season 8	Points per game		Year	Games
Yao Ming	-	DNP	2011	0
Shaquille O'Neal	30.7	+30.7	2000	23

Shaquille O'Neal's additional Playoffs:

* During his 11 additional NBA seasons, Shaquille O'Neal played in 10 Playoffs and won 3 NBA Championships. In those postseasons he averaged 21.9 points in a total of 127 games. His highest playoff average during that period was 30.4 ppg and his lowest 1.