Billy Ray Bates vs. David Thompson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of David Thompson and Billy Ray Bates, 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.

Billy Ray Bates played 4 years in the NBA, 4 less than David Thompson, who played 8. Billy Ray Bates had the first of his seasons in 1979-80, while David Thompson had his rookie season in 1976-77. 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
Rookie Season
	Billy Ray Bates	David Thompson
Season	1979-80	1976-77
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Nuggets Lost West 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		%
Billy Ray Bates	16	14.7	11.3	0.8	1.0	1.8	1.9	0.9	0.1	1.3	1.6	4.5	9.1	.493	0.5	1.2	.421	1.8	2.4	.718
David Thompson	82	36.6	25.9	1.7	2.4	4.1	4.1	1.4	0.6	-	2.9	10.0	19.8	.507	-	-	-	5.8	7.6	.766
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	3	34.7	25.0	0.7	2.7	3.3	4.0	1.7	0.3	5.0	4.3	10.3	19.7	.525	0.7	2.3	.286	3.7	4.7	.786
David Thompson	6	39.5	24.7	2.2	3.0	5.2	4.0	1.5	0.7	-	3.7	9.3	20.2	.463	-	-	-	6.0	8.8	.679

Season 2
	Billy Ray Bates	David Thompson
Season	1980-81	1977-78
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Trail Blazers Lost West Conf 1st Rd	Nuggets Lost West 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		%
Billy Ray Bates	77	20.3	13.8	0.9	1.1	2.0	2.5	1.1	0.1	1.9	1.6	5.7	11.7	.487	0.2	0.7	.259	2.2	2.6	.854
David Thompson	80	37.8	27.2	2.0	2.9	4.9	4.5	1.2	1.2	3.1	2.7	10.3	19.8	.521	-	-	-	6.5	8.4	.778
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	3	38.3	28.3	1.0	1.3	2.3	4.3	1.7	0.3	3.7	3.7	11.7	20.7	.565	0.3	0.3	1.000	4.7	5.7	.824
David Thompson	13	37.0	25.2	1.4	2.7	4.1	4.0	0.7	1.6	3.0	2.6	10.1	22.4	.450	-	-	-	5.1	6.2	.825

Season 3
	Billy Ray Bates	David Thompson
Season	1981-82	1978-79
Team	Portland Trail Blazers	Denver Nuggets
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game NVP
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Nuggets 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		%
Billy Ray Bates	75	16.4	11.1	0.7	0.7	1.4	1.5	0.5	0.1	1.2	1.3	4.4	9.2	.473	0.2	0.5	.293	2.2	2.8	.787
David Thompson	76	35.1	24.0	1.4	2.2	3.6	3.0	0.9	1.1	2.4	2.4	9.1	17.8	.512	-	-	-	5.8	7.7	.753
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
David Thompson	3	40.7	28.0	2.3	4.7	7.0	4.0	1.3	0.3	4.0	4.0	12.7	23.0	.551	-	-	-	2.7	3.7	.727

Season 7
	Billy Ray Bates	David Thompson
Season	-	1982-83
Team	-	Seattle Supersonics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Supersonics 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		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
David Thompson	75	28.7	15.9	1.3	2.3	3.6	3.0	0.6	0.4	2.2	1.9	5.9	12.3	.481	0.0	0.1	.200	4.0	5.1	.784
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Billy Ray Bates	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
David Thompson	2	32.5	12.0	0.0	0.0	0	3.5	0.5	0.5	2.0	3.5	4.5	12.5	.360	0.0	0.0	-	3.0	5.0	.600