Age is a frifinish for NBA players. It beats into submission. It turns peaks into permanent valleys and its harshest effects are inevitable and end up affecting everyone.
Every year, however, the league has a harvest of players who defy the blind march of time. They are not immune to what is illegible, even for those who could return “to the top”. But we forget, if only superficially, that they are fighting a lost battle.
This one’s for them.
Anyone who has just played their normal season of 33 years or older is eligible for inclusion. The biggest focus will be on what was completed in the 2019-2020 campaign, as it is the recent highest, however, the fund will be used to contextualize gravity. and durability of his performance in the Golden Age.
Remember: it’s not necessarily about identifying players who remain the most sensitive to their powers, but those who might have bowed to age and have not yet given up their hard-hitting workload or, in some cases, their fame.
Seasons played: 17
Age: 36
Averages 2019-20: 15. 4 points, 6. 3 rebounds, 1. 5 assists, 0. 8 steals, 52. 5 percentage actual shot
The weather has been the best with Carmelo Anthony, his piece is several degrees below that of his Banana Boat brothers, and he has never moved smoothly to a more complementary and smaller role.
This fight is not for lack of attempts. Criticize his taste as a cutting-edge game compared to other superstars as he will, however, he largely took the kind of moves Melo made at the Olympics during his periods with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets, against him. The power never followed suit, and after he was shown the door at H-Town, where he made only 10 appearances, it seemed that his NBA career could be over.
That’s not the case. And that’s not the case yet.
Landing with the Portland Trail Blazers stored it. They pulled him out of despair, but since then they have proven to be the ideal solution, achieving a balance between the player and the team of Melo’s other recent top stops. He made functional concessions; he installed more screens and more than part of his baskets received help, which in turn allowed him to immerse himself a lot in the most natural: jumps and post-ups of dribble and occasional clearings.
A 36-year-old in a descent phase who wants such a sensitive offensive balance that he doesn’t defy age in the most appropriate sense of the word, Melo is not a net positive in all situations and there have been nights with the Blazers where he has frankly negative. His most productive role could be to get out of the bank and shoot as a member of the unit at the moment, and who knows if his offensive speed translates into a particularly small number of minutes.
But, uh, this kid’s 36 years old. He was absent from the NBA for more than a year. And then he returned, averaging more than 32 minutes and 15 problems consistent with the game and buried more than 38% of his triples. that it’s still a cube is awesome.
In fact, only 8 other players scored 15 game-consistent issues while shooting with more than 38% intensity after their 35th birthday: Ray Allen, Alex English, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, JJ Redick, Detlef Schrempf and Dominique Wilkins. It’s a very smart company. And next season, because there will be an upcoming season for him, Melo will have a chance that the first 35 and more will do it twice.
Seasons played: 12
Age: 34
Averages 2019-20: 16. 2 points, 3. 2 rebounds, 5. 1 assists, 0. 7 steals, 57. 3 percentage real shot
Several injuries over the more than two seasons, adding this one, in the first place, seemed to collect goran Dragic’s anti-aging status. He has given the impression in only 95 games in the more than two years, the maximum of which have noticed him leaving the bank. , and is no longer part of the 30-minute club.
However, Dragic remains incredibly effective when he is on the field and this season, he has played more than enough to justify the advantages of doubt (59 games). Graham, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul and Fred VanVleet of Devonte were the other players have accumulated more than 15 problems and five assists consistent with the game, retaining more than 36% of their triples.
Dragic consistent with further formed the playoffs, where he made the five most sensitive. He averaged 21. 3 points and 4. 5 assists in just 35 minutes consistent with the game and controlled 37. 8% of his trey. years of age or older to have crossed benchmarks on at least 10 playoff ramps, and has tried far under three.
Keep Dragic still in pain. He’s sliding out of the haggle and the defenses are giving in to his units, especially when he ends up around the hoop like he does now. The Miami Heat, on the other hand, doesn’t do that wave of playoffs without it. the team in the area tries to shoot with a cosmic margin of 55 shots, and the offense is particularly more effective with him on the ground, despite his many solo rehearsals.
About a third of Dragic’s assets come with Jimmy Butler at the bank, and more than 15% did not come with Butler or Bam Adebayo. Then give your dues. He doesn’t play as a typical 34-year-old, and Miami could soon hang up the championship banner (partly) because of that.
Seasons played: 17
Age: 35
2019-20 Averages: 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 10.2 assists, 1.2 steals, 57.7 true shooting percentage
What is there left to say about LeBron James?
This is Year 17. He is 35. He has piloted the Los Angeles Lakers within a grasp of a title. He is a triple-double threat from the moment his alarm goes off each morning. His off nights are other stars’ on nights. He led the league in assists per game, for the first time of his career, at the age of 35, because he is 35. He hasn’t defended so well since he called Miami home.
He just finished second in MVP voting—and deserved it.
Father Time may be undefeated, but LeBron is putting up one helluva fight. He shows some signs of his longevity, mainly how often he’s able to cook guys off the dribble, but not many. His downhill assaults remain terrifying.
Some might bristle at how much influence he has over every possession. He is the Lakers’ playmaking lifeline more incidentally than accidentally. He still needs to be the center of the offense. Anthony Davis might have a license to drive the car, but LeBron still has the keys.
Tethering so much of their livelihood to a 35-year-old should be an unsettling proposition for the Lakers. It isn’t. Not yet. Maybe not even soon. They’re mere wins away from a championship on the backs of Davis, a frenetic defense and a version of LeBron that, aside from the additional assists and lower free-throw-attempt rate, is almost statistically unrecognizable from his 26-year-old self.
And yet, he’s 35.
Did I mention that?
Seasons Played: 14
Age: 34
2019-20 Averages: 19.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.4 steals, 59.0 true shooting percentage
Kyle Lowry does not play like someone who just wrapped his age-33 season.
He barrels and bruises. He shapeshifts on offense. He scraps on defense. He screens. He doesn’t so much sacrifice his body as he volunteers to throw it around. Nobody drew more charges in the regular season.
Pascal Siakam is now almost universally recognized as the Toronto Raptors’ best player. Lowry is a close second. He might even be first given the drop-off Siakam suffered during the playoffs.
Regardless, Lowry is the Raptors’ most important player. He is the engine that drives them, even when he doesn’t have the ball. The roster at large seems to have adopted his energy, and Toronto entrusts him with oversight it won’t bestow upon anyone else. He logged far more possessions without both Siakam and Fred VanVleet than either of them did under the same circumstances.
Whether Lowry can effectively ferry this burden for an entire regular season and through a deep playoff push is debatable. The answer also doesn’t matter. LeBron James is the only player on this list who is best-player-on-a-title-team material. Lowry’s style is postseason-proof, wire to wire, when he’s a consensus No. 2 who doesn’t have to punch above that level too often. (See: Season, Last.) That’s pretty damn ridiculous for someone now closer to 35 than 33.
Oh, and lest we forget, he defies age in the most literal sense. He didn’t sniff his real peak until his second year with the Raptors, at the age of 27. That climb essentially continued through his age-30 season. Even this year, following the departure of Kawhi Leonard, he kicked up his scoring, increasing his average from 14.2 points to 19.4. That’s not normal.
Seasons Played: 15
Age: 35
2019-20 Averages: 17.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.6 steals, 61.0 true shooting percentage
Chris Paul should fall closer to LeBron James’ end of the spectrum, where we’ve run out of adjectives to describe how his performance runs counter to his longevity. But hamstring injuries sapped him of availability during his two years with Houston, some of it mission-critical, and the Rockets then treated him as the lesser asset in the Russell Westbrook trade over the offseason.
Viewed together, even when acknowledging his move to Oklahoma City wasn’t purely a basketball decision, this all became evidence of regression—of age extracting its ugly, unbeaten toll.
It turns out this notion of Paul’s backslide was an illusion. He isn’t dribbling bigs into complete disintegration on switches as often, but he’s every bit the same relentless guy. It seems like he’ll amble his way into semi-transition pull-up threes until the end of time, his mid-range game is lethal, and scant few point guards are as adept at chaperoning set defenses toward implosion.
The Thunder’s success this season says it all. They scrapped their way to a five-seed and came within a few possessions of getting past the Rockets in the first round. Paul was the lifeblood of it all. Oklahoma City’s offensive rating improved by 13.7 points per 100 possessions with him in the lineup—the second-largest swing among every player who logged at least 250 minutes.
Expecting Paul to anchor a genuine title threat on his own is probably a stretch. But not a massive one. And he is certainly someone who can be a championship finishing touch, provided another team is willing to foot the bill on the $85.6 million he’s owed over the next two years—which, given that this deal has yet to actually age poorly, shouldn’t be a deal-breaker.
Seasons Played: 14
Age: 36
2019-20 Averages: 15.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.3 steals, 64.4 true shooting percentage
JJ Redick is more a subtle assassin of age.
Shooting doesn’t gray as quickly or starkly as athleticism or size. His crowning skill is supposed to age well.
On a more granular level, though, Redick’s performance is an anomaly. He isn’t just a shooter. He’s a functional shooter, someone who fires up off-balance jumpers coming around screens and can dribble into his own looks.
Redick’s 42.1 percent clip on pull-up threes this season ranked first among 84 players who attempted at least 75 such shots. He finished inside the 81st percentile on efficiency coming off screens and hasn’t ranked lower than the 74th percentile (2016-17) since at least 2015-16.
Leaving the confines of his role with the Los Angeles Clippers has even allowed Redick to expand his offensive portfolio. Pick-and-roll initiation has accounted for at least 10 percent of his offensive possession in each of the past three years, and he’s cleared the 94th percentile of efficiency every. Single. Time.
Not surprisingly, Redick’s marriage of scoring and efficiency verges on unprecedented for someone his age. Artis Gilmore, a 7’2″ big man, is the only player who averaged more than 15 points after his 33rd birthday on a better true shooting percentage than Redick notched this season.
Seasons Played: 15
Age: 33
2019-20 Averages: 18.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 0.7 steals, 54.6 true shooting percentage
The year is 2044. The regular season is winding down. Bronny James is expected to contemplate retirement if he wins title No. One More Than His Dad Did. Analytics and The Eye Test are celebrating their first wedding anniversary. Kawhi Leonard is mere months away from coming out of cryosleep, just in time for free agency. The New York Knicks are signing a superstar this coming summer. They promise.
And a 57-year-old Lou Williams is still getting buckets.
I jest. I think. Maybe. Actually, I’m not really sure.
Williams is a timeless hooper. Sure, his shot selection and capacity to draw fouls doesn’t really scale to the postseason. His free-throw attempt rate over the past three years has plunged from .402 in the regular season to .291 during the playoffs. But we need to appreciate his body of work for its eternality.
His four highest-scoring seasons have come after his 30th birthday, during which time he’s coming into his own as a pick-and-roll partner. Even as his importance to the now-superstar-clad Clippers has changed, he still emanates Sixth Man of the Year vibes.
Maybe the decline is coming. Williams turns 34 in October. Then again, when you watch him, it feels like he can ruthlessly roast big men on switches, going left, to infinity and beyond.
Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and listen to his Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by B/R’s Adam Fromal.