LaMelo Ball vs. Rudy LaRusso Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Rudy LaRusso and LaMelo Ball, 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.

LaMelo Ball played 4 years in the NBA, 6 less than Rudy LaRusso, who played 10. LaMelo Ball had the first of his seasons in 2020-21, while Rudy LaRusso had his rookie season in 1959-60. 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
	LaMelo Ball	Rudy LaRusso
Season	2020-21	1959-60
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Minneapolis Lakers
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	All-Rookie First Team	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers Lost West Div 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		%
LaMelo Ball	51	28.8	15.7	1.2	4.7	5.9	6.1	1.6	0.4	2.8	2.7	5.7	13.2	.436	1.8	5.1	.352	2.5	3.2	.758
Rudy LaRusso	71	29.5	13.7	-	-	9.6	1.2	-	-	-	3.1	5.0	12.9	.389	-	-	-	3.7	5.0	.742
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	9	35.7	15.4	-	-	7.8	2.4	-	-	-	3.8	6.2	14.7	.424	-	-	-	3.0	3.9	.771

Season 2
	LaMelo Ball	Rudy LaRusso
Season	2021-22	1960-61
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers Lost West Div 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		%
LaMelo Ball	75	32.3	20.1	1.4	5.2	6.7	7.6	1.6	0.4	3.3	3.2	7.2	16.7	.429	2.9	7.5	.389	2.8	3.2	.872
Rudy LaRusso	79	32.8	14.6	-	-	9.9	1.7	-	-	-	3.5	5.3	12.6	.419	-	-	-	4.1	5.2	.790
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	12	30.0	12.2	-	-	8.0	2.0	-	-	-	3.6	4.8	12.0	.396	-	-	-	2.7	4.0	.667

Season 3
	LaMelo Ball	Rudy LaRusso
Season	2022-23	1961-62
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers Lost NBA 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		%
LaMelo Ball	36	35.2	23.3	1.2	5.3	6.4	8.4	1.3	0.3	3.6	3.3	8.2	20.0	.411	4.0	10.6	.376	2.8	3.4	.836
Rudy LaRusso	80	34.4	17.2	-	-	10.4	2.2	-	-	-	3.2	6.5	13.9	.466	-	-	-	4.3	5.6	.763
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	13	35.5	14.1	-	-	9.1	1.7	-	-	-	3.9	4.4	12.0	.365	-	-	-	5.3	7.0	.758

Season 4
	LaMelo Ball	Rudy LaRusso
Season	2023-24	1962-63
Team	Charlotte Hornets	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Lakers Lost NBA 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		%
LaMelo Ball	22	32.3	23.9	1.3	3.8	5.1	8.0	1.8	0.2	3.8	3.6	8.3	19.2	.433	3.2	9.0	.355	4.1	4.7	.865
Rudy LaRusso	75	33.4	12.3	-	-	10.0	2.5	-	-	-	3.4	4.3	10.1	.422	-	-	-	3.8	5.2	.718
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	13	35.8	14.4	-	-	9.8	2.2	-	-	-	4.5	5.0	11.8	.422	-	-	-	4.4	5.8	.760

Season 7
	LaMelo Ball	Rudy LaRusso
Season	-	1965-66
Team	-	Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Lakers Lost NBA 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		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	76	30.5	15.4	-	-	8.7	2.2	-	-	-	3.4	5.4	11.8	.457	-	-	-	4.6	5.9	.787
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	14	28.4	11.9	-	-	7.1	1.9	-	-	-	3.4	4.1	8.9	.460	-	-	-	3.8	4.8	.791

Season 9
	LaMelo Ball	Rudy LaRusso
Season	-	1967-68
Team	-	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Warriors Lost West Div 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		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	79	35.7	21.8	-	-	9.4	2.3	-	-	-	4.3	7.6	17.6	.433	-	-	-	6.6	8.4	.790
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	10	38.5	20.3	-	-	9.9	1.7	-	-	-	3.5	7.2	18.2	.396	-	-	-	5.9	8.1	.728

Season 10
	LaMelo Ball	Rudy LaRusso
Season	-	1968-69
Team	-	San Francisco Warriors
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	-	Warriors Lost West Div 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		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	75	37.1	20.7	-	-	8.3	2.1	-	-	-	3.6	7.4	18.0	.410	-	-	-	5.9	7.5	.794
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
LaMelo Ball	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rudy LaRusso	6	35.8	18.2	-	-	8.5	2.5	-	-	-	3.8	5.7	15.0	.378	-	-	-	6.8	8.8	.774