Professional athletes can make a fortune and gain fame from playing kids' games. However, no one gets to play sports forever. Inevitably, time erodes the skills of even the most supremely talented stars.
For normal humans, that is. For LeBron James, that reality simply doesn't apply.
Still thriving in his 22nd NBA season, James looks as otherworldly as ever with the way he continues to run circles around Father Time and defy Mother Nature. At 40 years old, he is the oldest current player in the NBA.
Oldest NBA Players in 2024-25
James fills up the box score for the Los Angeles Lakers like he did when he entered the league as an 18-year-old basketball prodigy in 2003 with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The 21-time All-Star is scoring a tad less than his career average of 27 points per game, but he has exceeded his career marks in rebounds and assists by averaging eight boards and eight dimes per game. And he's still one of the NBA's top scorers, rebounders and assist makers and one of its best in Player Efficiency Rating.
When he turned the big four-oh last December, James marveled at what he can still to do on an NBA court.
“To be honest, if I really wanted to, I could probably play this game at a high level for about another—weird that I might say this—but about another five or seven years, if I wanted to,” James told reporters. “But I’m not going to do that.”
“It’s kind of laughable, really, to know where I am, to see where I am still, playing the game at a high level," he added. "Still being such a young man, but old in the scheme of how many years I’ve got in this profession."
New York Knicks forward P.J. Tucker is the NBA's second-oldest player at 39 years old. Tucker is one day older than San Antonio Spurs guard Chris Paul, the 12-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer.
Charlotte Hornets forward Taj Gibson and Philadelphia 76ers guard Kyle Lowry are also 39 as the league's fourth- and fifth-oldest players, respectively.
The Oldest Players in NBA History
Providence Steamrollers coach Nat Hickey made NBA history when he activated himself to play in two games in 1948. He only logged two minutes in his last contest, but he made history as the league's oldest player at 45 years and 363 days.
Hickey's record still stands. And it remains anomalous due to Hickey's dual role as coach/player, a distinction that existed in the early days of pro basketball but is not possible in the complexity of today's NBA.
The closest any player has come to Hickey's mark was 21-year NBA veteran big man Kevin Willis, who played his final game in 2007 with the Dallas Mavericks at 44 years and 224 days old.
Robert Parish, the Hall of Fame center for the Boston Celtics' title-winning teams in the 1980s, is the league's third-oldest player ever at 43 years and 232 days in 1997 as a reserve for the Chicago Bulls. Parish ended his career on top after winning a fourth NBA championship with the Michael Jordan-led Bulls.
Vince Carter, the fourth-oldest player in league history at 43 years and 45 days, was primed to challenge Hickey's record with his excellent conditioning. However, the NBA's nine-month hiatus for non-playoff teams due to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Carter to call it quits after 22 seasons.
Udonis Haslem played 20 seasons with the Miami Heat, but the franchise legend basically served as an unofficial player/coach at the end of his career. His last game was not just a ceremonial moment, as he scored a game-high 24 points to lead Miami to a 123-110 victory over the Orlando Magic.
How Players Extend Their Careers in the NBA
Part of James' legend is his commitment to staying in shape and the investment it requires. He shot down the rumor that he spends as much as $1 million on body maintenance.
"Listen, I do take care of my body. But I have no idea where the amount of money came from, but I do invest in my body for sure," James said on "The Pat McAfee Show" in March.
"Trying to do a little bit of this, little bit of that. Obviously, a lot of soft tissue work, a lot of massages, a lot of hyperbaric chambers, ice tubs, ice baths. Whatever I can do to continue playing at this level, man, I'm gonna continue to do while I'm playing."
Willis attributed his longevity to talent, health, locker-room value, adaptability and luck, telling the Guardian he was "fortunate" to be viewed as a respected veteran leader.
Carter embraced the offseason conditioning to be an NBA player and the yearly challenge of having to prove himself against younger opponents.
"If they called me to come play for a team and sit for a championship, I’d chase one now," Carter told The Athletic. "But it wasn’t about that. Because I still felt that I was going to put the work in at 42, 43 years old to go play. And it felt good to go on the court, and a 19- 21-, 25-year-old comes in there. And they’re like, ‘he’s old.'
“And I’d be like, let’s line it up. Let’s see if I still have it.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Oldest NBA Players (2024-2025 Season and All Time).
