Rudy LaRusso vs. Isaiah Thomas Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Isaiah Thomas and Rudy LaRusso, 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.

Rudy LaRusso played 10 years in the NBA, 2 less than Isaiah Thomas, who played 12. Rudy LaRusso had the first of his seasons in 1959-60, while Isaiah Thomas had his rookie season in 2011-12. 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
Rookie Season
	Rudy LaRusso	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1959-60	2011-12
Team	Minneapolis Lakers	Sacramento Kings
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie Second Team
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Div 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		%
Rudy LaRusso	71	29.5	13.7	-	-	9.6	1.2	-	-	-	3.1	5.0	12.9	.389	-	-	-	3.7	5.0	.742
Isaiah Thomas	65	25.5	11.5	0.7	1.8	2.6	4.1	0.8	0.1	1.6	1.9	3.9	8.8	.448	1.3	3.4	.379	2.4	2.8	.832
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Rudy LaRusso	9	35.7	15.4	-	-	7.8	2.4	-	-	-	3.8	6.2	14.7	.424	-	-	-	3.0	3.9	.771
Isaiah Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 3
	Rudy LaRusso	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1961-62	2013-14
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Sacramento Kings
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers 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		%
Rudy LaRusso	80	34.4	17.2	-	-	10.4	2.2	-	-	-	3.2	6.5	13.9	.466	-	-	-	4.3	5.6	.763
Isaiah Thomas	72	34.7	20.3	0.7	2.3	2.9	6.3	1.3	0.1	3.0	2.6	6.9	15.2	.453	1.8	5.1	.349	4.8	5.7	.850
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Rudy LaRusso	13	35.5	14.1	-	-	9.1	1.7	-	-	-	3.9	4.4	12.0	.365	-	-	-	5.3	7.0	.758
Isaiah Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 4
	Rudy LaRusso	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1962-63	2014-15
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers Lost NBA Finals	Celtics Lost East 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		%
Rudy LaRusso	75	33.4	12.3	-	-	10.0	2.5	-	-	-	3.4	4.3	10.1	.422	-	-	-	3.8	5.2	.718
Isaiah Thomas	67	25.8	16.4	0.5	1.8	2.3	4.2	0.9	0.1	2.1	2.2	5.0	11.9	.420	1.9	5.2	.373	4.5	5.2	.868
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Rudy LaRusso	13	35.8	14.4	-	-	9.8	2.2	-	-	-	4.5	5.0	11.8	.422	-	-	-	4.4	5.8	.760
Isaiah Thomas	4	29.8	17.5	0.3	2.8	3.0	7.0	0.8	0.0	3.5	2.5	4.5	13.5	.333	0.8	4.5	.167	7.8	8.0	.969

Season 5
	Rudy LaRusso	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1963-64	2015-16
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost West Div Semis	Celtics Lost East 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		%
Rudy LaRusso	79	34.8	12.3	-	-	10.1	2.4	-	-	-	3.4	4.3	9.8	.434	-	-	-	3.8	5.0	.751
Isaiah Thomas	82	32.2	22.2	0.6	2.4	3.0	6.2	1.1	0.1	2.7	2.0	7.2	16.9	.428	2.0	5.7	.359	5.8	6.6	.871
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Rudy LaRusso	5	37.8	9.0	-	-	6.0	2.2	-	-	-	4.6	2.6	6.6	.394	-	-	-	3.8	4.4	.864
Isaiah Thomas	6	36.7	24.2	0.3	2.7	3.0	5.0	0.7	0.8	2.3	3.0	7.8	19.8	.395	2.2	7.7	.283	6.3	7.8	.809

Season 6
	Rudy LaRusso	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1964-65	2016-17
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Lakers Lost NBA Finals	Celtics Lost East 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		%
Rudy LaRusso	77	33.6	14.1	-	-	9.4	2.6	-	-	-	3.4	4.9	10.7	.461	-	-	-	4.2	5.4	.773
Isaiah Thomas	76	33.8	28.9	0.6	2.1	2.7	5.9	0.9	0.2	2.8	2.2	9.0	19.4	.463	3.2	8.5	.379	7.8	8.5	.909
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Rudy LaRusso	11	35.9	15.0	-	-	8.1	2.6	-	-	-	4.7	5.1	12.5	.409	-	-	-	4.8	6.7	.716
Isaiah Thomas	15	34.7	23.3	0.3	2.8	3.1	6.7	0.9	0.1	3.3	2.3	7.4	17.4	.425	2.4	7.2	.333	6.1	7.4	.820

Season 7
	Rudy LaRusso	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1965-66	2017-18
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Lakers 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		%
Rudy LaRusso	76	30.5	15.4	-	-	8.7	2.2	-	-	-	3.4	5.4	11.8	.457	-	-	-	4.6	5.9	.787
Isaiah Thomas	32	26.9	15.2	0.5	1.6	2.1	4.8	0.5	0.1	3.0	1.8	4.9	13.2	.373	1.7	5.9	.293	3.7	4.1	.893
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Rudy LaRusso	14	28.4	11.9	-	-	7.1	1.9	-	-	-	3.4	4.1	8.9	.460	-	-	-	3.8	4.8	.791
Isaiah Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 9
	Rudy LaRusso	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1967-68	2019-20
Team	San Francisco Warriors	Washington Wizards
Honors & Awards	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Warriors Lost West Div 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		%
Rudy LaRusso	79	35.7	21.8	-	-	9.4	2.3	-	-	-	4.3	7.6	17.6	.433	-	-	-	6.6	8.4	.790
Isaiah Thomas	40	23.1	12.2	0.3	1.4	1.7	3.7	0.3	0.2	1.9	1.9	4.4	10.7	.408	2.0	4.7	.413	1.6	1.9	.816
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Rudy LaRusso	10	38.5	20.3	-	-	9.9	1.7	-	-	-	3.5	7.2	18.2	.396	-	-	-	5.9	8.1	.728
Isaiah Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 10
	Rudy LaRusso	Isaiah Thomas
Season	1968-69	2020-21
Team	San Francisco Warriors	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	All-Defensive Second Team	-
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	Warriors Lost West Div 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		%
Rudy LaRusso	75	37.1	20.7	-	-	8.3	2.1	-	-	-	3.6	7.4	18.0	.410	-	-	-	5.9	7.5	.794
Isaiah Thomas	3	16.0	7.7	0.3	1.0	1.3	1.7	0.3	0.0	2.0	1.0	3.0	9.0	.333	1.0	4.0	.250	0.7	0.7	1.000
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Rudy LaRusso	6	35.8	18.2	-	-	8.5	2.5	-	-	-	3.8	5.7	15.0	.378	-	-	-	6.8	8.8	.774
Isaiah Thomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Isaiah Thomas didn't play in 2022-23.