When LeBron James broke another NBA record earlier this month, the one for most regular-season minutes played in a career, his Los Angeles Lakers teammates handled the moment in typical locker room fashion.
They made fun of him.
鈥淭hey told me I鈥檓 old as hell,鈥 James quipped.
By NBA standards, they鈥檙e not wrong. He was dubbed 鈥淭he Kid from Akron鈥 when the Ohio native entered the league with a limitless future nearly 22 years ago. He's now the 40-year-old from Los Angeles with wisps of gray in his beard. He turned 40 on Monday and, in his next game, will become the first player in NBA history to appear in a game in his teens, 20s, 30s and 40s.
Such a feat has happened a couple of dozen times in baseball before. It has happened in hockey 鈥 appearing in the NHL from his teens to his 50s 鈥 but never in the NFL or the NBA. Until now. James is making more basketball history and creating a club all of his own.
鈥淚n some ways he鈥檚 a freak of nature,鈥 NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been around a lot of great players and he鈥檚 one of the hardest-working players I鈥檝e been around. I mean, he doesn鈥檛 take a day off. He seems to not take an afternoon off. He鈥檚 always working on some part of his body. You meet with him and he鈥檚 always soaking something or eating something or has some contraption attached to him.鈥
A 40th birthday, in NBA terms, means the on-court end is near. James will become the 30th player to appear in a regular-season game with a 鈥4鈥 as the first digit of his age; only nine logged more than 51 games after that birthday. He鈥檒l be the 32nd player to play after turning 40 overall; Tim Duncan and Danny Schayes both turned 40 during playoff runs in what became their final seasons.
And for the most part, big numbers are largely nonexistent at that age.
Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who did it three times), John Stockton (twice), Michael Jordan, Robert Parish and Karl Malone have averaged more than 10 points in a season after turning 40. Jordan averaged 22.4 points in 30 games after turning 40 in his final season with Washington; Malone is the most recent to do it, averaging 13.2 points in 42 games after turning 40 while with the Lakers in 2003-04.
James, meanwhile, is still putting up All-Star level numbers: 23.5 points, 9 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game. Forget how doing that at 40 is unheard of. Doing that at 30 is practically unheard of. The only players to have those numbers in all three categories in a season after turning 30 are James (who did it at 33 and 35) and James Harden (who did it at 31).
鈥淭he size, the strength and the IQ 鈥 with his frame and the way he takes care of himself, he doesn鈥檛 have to be the best athlete on the planet. At one time he was,鈥 Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not talking about the best athlete in the association. He was the best athlete on the planet arguably, just size, strength, agility, explosiveness combined. But at this size and if he just wants to slow the game down and just play off his brain and IQ, he could do that for another decade. I doubt he鈥檒l find interest in that. But he could.鈥
Nobody knows when James will stop playing. And it surely isn't going to get any easier: and couldn't, was widely criticized when the Lakers went through a slump earlier this season and took tons of backlash when his team drafted his son Bronny in the second round last summer in
He has always been a lightning rod. If his play declines at 40, his naysayers will be lined up to revel in that.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot harder, physically and emotionally, to face what those guys face night after night after night," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said of top NBA stars getting up in years, like James and the Warriors' Stephen Curry 鈥 who'll turn 37 in March. "There鈥檚 a reason players have to retire. You know, they can鈥檛 do it forever.鈥
James won't either.
But even while playing alongside elite 30-year-olds like Giannis Antetokounmpo, James 鈥 who reportedly spends more than $1.5 million annually on his fitness and has an on-site mechanic of sorts at all times for anything his body needs in personal athletic training guru in Mike Mancias 鈥 has shown how to play long past what used to be considered an NBA player鈥檚 peak years.
鈥淲hat he鈥檚 done is incredible, never been done, especially at the level he鈥檚 playing,鈥 Antetokounmpo said. 鈥淔or me, I always look at the other players that kind of set the blueprint for us, and this is something that鈥檚 never been done before. I definitely want to play late into my career, like 37, 38, 39, as much as my body can allow me to play. But I have to do a good job of taking care of my body, which I believe I do, but he kind of set the path for us, set the blueprint for us. We鈥檝e just got to follow."
The accolades are countless: James is the , has a place in the GOAT conversation, most minutes played, four NBA championships, 20 and likely soon to be 21 All-Star selections, oldest to do this, oldest to do that, generational wealth with a net worth exceeding $1 billion, and .
It begs the question: What does one get a 40-year-old who has everything?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 even know,鈥 lamented 鈥 another example of how James is one of one, becoming the .
James has hinted that the end is near. 鈥淒on鈥檛 make me feel old right now,鈥 he said, only half-kiddingly, when asked earlier this month about the looming 40th birthday. He is under contract for next season but hasn鈥檛 offered any guarantees about how long he will play, saying he isn鈥檛 鈥済oing to play that much longer, to be completely honest鈥 and insisting that he won鈥檛 be 鈥減laying till the wheels fall off鈥 because he doesn鈥檛 want to disrespect the game.
No player scored more points in his teens than James did. Same goes for his 20s. Only Malone and Abdul-Jabbar scored more points in their 30s than James. And now, here comes his 40s, with James still going strong.
It's the final decade of a basketball career like none other.
鈥淔ans pay attention every time he steps on the court because they鈥檙e watching one of the greatest ever and still playing an incredibly high level, despite turning 40 this month,鈥 Silver said. 鈥淚 marvel at him.鈥
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