« Reply #214 on: November 14, 2017, 02:10:55 PM »
Lebron's minutes the last 3 games 36, 40 and 42. He turns 33 in a month. It feels like Lue is already coaching for his job.
But LeBron is a machine. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is averaging 17/5/4 in 29mpg at 40 years old.
as good as Kobe was at scoring, even father time caught up to him, I suspect LeBron will be the same. When LeBron hits 36-37, there's probably going to be an injury here and there that will hit him hard like Kobe's achilles
not that I'm wishing pain upon him but I doubt by 40 he has any left in the tank to average 17/5/4, although it'd be very amazing to see him do that though
Yea. In a sport like baseball or football it seems like it is more possible to have such a high performer at 40. Aside from 7 foot centers like Duncan or Kareem (who obviously are a different animal) the last guy to be that effective at that age was Karl Malone. He averaging 20 points a game at 39. However, I would argue it was even easier to do that in 2002 than it is now given how the top teams move the ball and space the floor making it impossible to not run more on defense.
I don't know if it was easier back then, but physically Karl Malone is the closest comparison to Lebron James of all of the all time greats. James is obviously more athletic and plays the game more athletic, so he will probably be more prone to injuries (and he has missed way more games than Malone has), but I wouldn't be overly surprised to see James have Malone like success at a very advanced age though in fewer games played (i.e. I could see Lebron playing 65-70 games at age 39 and scoring 20 a night).
Also, as a point of clarification, in 02-03 at the age of 39 Jordan averaged 20 after averaging 22.9 the year before. Now I get that MJ had a lot more rest than your average 39 year old, but he was still performing at a solid enough level as an old man.
Logged
2023 Historical Draft - Brooklyn Nets - 9th pick
Bigs - Pau, Amar'e, Issel, McGinnis, Roundfield
Wings - Dantley, Bowen, J. Jackson
Guards - Cheeks, Petrovic, Buse, Rip