Penny Hardaway vs. Norm Van Lier Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Norm Van Lier and Penny Hardaway, 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.

Penny Hardaway played 14 years in the NBA, 4 more than Norm Van Lier, who played 10. Penny Hardaway had the first of his seasons in 1993-94, while Norm Van Lier had his rookie season in 1969-70. 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: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14
Rookie Season
	Penny Hardaway	Norm Van Lier
Season	1993-94	1969-70
Team	Orlando Magic	Cincinnati Royals
Honors & Awards	All-Rookie First Team	-
Playoffs	Magic Lost East 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		%
Penny Hardaway	82	36.8	16.0	2.3	3.0	5.4	6.6	2.3	0.6	3.6	2.5	6.2	13.3	.466	0.6	2.3	.267	3.0	4.0	.742
Norm Van Lier	81	35.7	9.5	-	-	5.0	6.2	-	-	-	4.1	3.7	9.2	.403	-	-	-	2.0	2.8	.741
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Penny Hardaway	3	44.3	18.7	2.7	4.0	6.7	7.0	1.7	2.0	6.7	3.3	7.3	16.7	.440	1.7	3.7	.455	2.3	3.3	.700
Norm Van Lier	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Penny Hardaway	Norm Van Lier
Season	1994-95	1970-71
Team	Orlando Magic	Cincinnati Royals
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	Assists Leader
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Magic Lost NBA Finals	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		%
Penny Hardaway	77	37.7	20.9	1.8	2.6	4.4	7.2	1.7	0.3	3.4	2.1	7.6	14.8	.512	1.1	3.2	.349	4.6	6.0	.769
Norm Van Lier	82	40.5	16.0	-	-	7.1	10.1	-	-	-	4.2	5.8	13.9	.420	-	-	-	4.4	5.4	.816
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Penny Hardaway	21	40.4	19.6	1.4	2.3	3.8	7.7	1.9	0.7	3.5	3.3	6.9	14.5	.472	1.9	4.7	.404	4.0	5.3	.757
Norm Van Lier	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Penny Hardaway	Norm Van Lier
Season	1995-96	1971-72
Team	Orlando Magic	Cincinnati Royals, Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	All-NBA First Team	-
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf Finals	Bulls 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		%
Penny Hardaway	82	36.8	21.7	1.6	2.7	4.3	7.1	2.0	0.5	2.8	2.0	7.6	14.8	.513	1.1	3.5	.314	5.4	7.1	.767
Norm Van Lier	79	30.6	11.5	-	-	4.5	6.9	-	-	-	3.0	4.2	9.6	.439	-	-	-	3.0	3.8	.790
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Penny Hardaway	12	39.4	23.3	1.7	3.0	4.7	6.0	1.7	0.3	2.2	2.3	8.4	18.1	.465	1.7	4.6	.364	4.8	6.5	.744
Norm Van Lier	4	36.0	14.0	-	-	6.3	8.3	-	-	-	3.8	5.5	13.3	.415	-	-	-	3.0	3.5	.857

Season 4
	Penny Hardaway	Norm Van Lier
Season	1996-97	1972-73
Team	Orlando Magic	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	All-NBA Third Team	-
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Bulls 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		%
Penny Hardaway	59	37.6	20.5	1.4	3.1	4.5	5.6	1.6	0.6	2.5	2.1	7.1	15.9	.447	1.4	4.5	.318	4.8	5.8	.820
Norm Van Lier	80	36.0	13.9	-	-	5.5	7.1	-	-	-	3.4	5.9	13.3	.445	-	-	-	2.1	2.6	.787
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Penny Hardaway	5	44.4	31.0	1.4	4.6	6.0	3.4	2.4	1.4	1.8	2.8	10.4	22.2	.468	2.2	6.0	.367	8.0	10.8	.741
Norm Van Lier	7	36.9	14.4	-	-	5.3	5.1	-	-	-	4.6	6.4	18.4	.349	-	-	-	1.6	2.1	.733

Season 5
	Penny Hardaway	Norm Van Lier
Season	1997-98	1973-74
Team	Orlando Magic	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Defensive First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Bulls 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		%
Penny Hardaway	19	32.9	16.4	0.4	3.6	4.0	3.6	1.5	0.8	2.4	2.4	5.4	14.4	.377	0.8	2.6	.300	4.7	6.2	.763
Norm Van Lier	80	35.8	14.3	1.4	3.3	4.7	6.9	2.0	0.1	-	3.5	5.3	13.1	.406	-	-	-	3.6	4.6	.778
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Penny Hardaway	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Norm Van Lier	11	42.4	14.6	1.0	3.3	4.3	6.8	1.5	0.3	-	3.7	5.5	13.1	.424	-	-	-	3.5	4.3	.830

Season 6
	Penny Hardaway	Norm Van Lier
Season	1998-99	1974-75
Team	Orlando Magic	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive Second Team
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Bulls 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		%
Penny Hardaway	50	38.9	15.8	1.5	4.2	5.7	5.3	2.2	0.5	3.0	2.2	6.0	14.3	.420	0.8	2.8	.286	3.0	4.2	.706
Norm Van Lier	70	37.0	15.0	1.2	3.5	4.7	5.8	2.0	0.2	-	3.5	5.8	13.9	.420	-	-	-	3.4	4.3	.792
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Penny Hardaway	4	41.8	19.0	2.3	2.8	5.0	5.5	2.3	0.3	3.0	3.3	5.0	14.3	.351	1.5	3.3	.462	7.5	9.8	.769
Norm Van Lier	13	42.1	15.1	1.4	3.8	5.2	4.7	1.5	0.4	-	4.0	5.2	12.6	.409	-	-	-	4.8	6.4	.747

Season 7
	Penny Hardaway	Norm Van Lier
Season	1999-00	1975-76
Team	Phoenix Suns	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Suns Lost West Conf Semis	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		%
Penny Hardaway	60	37.6	16.9	1.5	4.3	5.8	5.3	1.6	0.6	2.6	2.7	6.3	13.3	.474	0.6	1.7	.324	3.8	4.8	.790
Norm Van Lier	76	39.8	12.6	1.8	3.6	5.4	6.6	2.0	0.3	-	3.9	4.8	13.0	.366	-	-	-	3.1	4.2	.737
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Penny Hardaway	9	42.8	20.3	1.6	3.3	4.9	5.7	1.6	1.0	2.8	3.2	7.4	16.1	.462	0.6	2.1	.263	4.9	6.9	.710
Norm Van Lier	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 8
	Penny Hardaway	Norm Van Lier
Season	2000-01	1976-77
Team	Phoenix Suns	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Bulls 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		%
Penny Hardaway	4	28.0	9.8	1.3	3.3	4.5	3.8	1.5	0.3	0.8	1.5	3.8	9.0	.417	0.5	2.0	.250	1.8	2.8	.636
Norm Van Lier	82	37.8	10.2	1.3	3.2	4.5	7.8	1.6	0.2	-	3.3	3.7	8.9	.412	-	-	-	2.9	3.7	.778
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Penny Hardaway	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Norm Van Lier	3	44.7	5.3	1.7	3.3	5.0	9.7	3.3	0.3	-	4.7	1.0	6.3	.158	-	-	-	3.3	4.0	.833

Season 9
	Penny Hardaway	Norm Van Lier
Season	2001-02	1977-78
Team	Phoenix Suns	Chicago Bulls
Honors & Awards	-	All-Defensive Second Team
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		%
Penny Hardaway	80	30.8	12.0	1.2	3.2	4.4	4.1	1.5	0.4	2.4	2.3	4.9	11.6	.418	0.3	1.0	.277	2.0	2.4	.810
Norm Van Lier	78	32.4	7.3	1.1	2.5	3.6	6.8	1.8	0.1	2.6	3.6	2.6	6.1	.419	-	-	-	2.2	2.9	.751
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Penny Hardaway	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Norm Van Lier	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Penny Hardaway didn't play in 2006-07.