Age is no friend to NBA players. It grates. It beats into submission. It converts peaks into permanent valleys. And its cruelest effects are inevitable, eventually coming for everyone.
Every year, though, the league has a crop of players who defy the indiscriminate march of time. They are not immune to what’s ineludible, even for those who might walk away “on top.” But they do help us forget, if only superficially, that they’re fighting a losing battle.
This one’s for them.
Anyone who just played through his age-33-or-older regular season is eligible for inclusion. The primary focus will be on what was accomplished during the 2019-20 campaign, since it’s the most recent, but track records will be used to contextualize the gravity and sustainability of their golden-years performance.
Remember: This isn’t necessarily about identifying players who remain at the peak of their powers. It’s a tribute to those who have perhaps bent in the face of age but not yet surrendered their impactful workloads—or, in some cases, their stardom.
Seasons Played: 17
Age: 36
2019-20 Averages: 15.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.8 steals, 52.5 true shooting percentage
Time has not been the kindest to Carmelo Anthony. His play is many tiers below that of his Banana Boat brethren, and he never seamlessly transitioned into a more complementary, lower-volume role.
That struggle is not for a lack of trying. Criticize his peak play style relative to other prime superstars as you will, but he largely took the sort of shots Olympics Melo did during his stints with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets, even if begrudgingly. His efficiency just never followed suit, and after being shown the door in H-Town, where he made only 10 appearances, it looked like his NBA career might be over.
It wasn’t. And it still isn’t.
Landing with the Portland Trail Blazers saved him. They brought him on out of desperation but have since proved to be the ideal fit, striking a balance between player and team Melo’s other most recent stops did not. He made functional concessions; he set more screens, and more than half his baskets came off assists. They, in turn, allowed him to heavily dabble in what comes most natural: off-the-dribble jumpers and post-ups and the occasional clear-out.
A 36-year-old on the downswing who requires such a delicate offensive equilibrium isn’t age-defying in the cleanest sense. Melo is not a net positive in every situation, and there were nights with the Blazers in which he was an outright negative. His best role might include coming off the bench and jacking shots as a member of the second unit, and who knows whether his offensive rhythm translates to noticeably fewer minutes.
But, um, this man is 36. He was out of the NBA for more than a year. And then he came back, averaged more than 32 minutes and 15 points per game and buried 38-plus percent of his triples. That he’s still a bucket at all is impressive.
Only eight other players, in fact, have cleared 15 points per game while shooting better than 38 percent from deep after their 35th birthday: Ray Allen, Alex English, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, JJ Redick, Detlef Schrempf and Dominique Wilkins. That’s pretty darn good company. And next season, because there will be a next season for him, Melo will have the chance to become the first 35-and-upper to accomplish this feat twice.
Seasons Played: 12
Age: 34
2019-20 Averages: 16.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 0.7 steals, 57.3 true shooting percentage
Various injuries over the past couple of seasons, including this one, initially looked like they would cost Goran Dragic age-defying status. He has appeared in just 95 games over the last two years, most of which have seen him come off the bench, and is no longer part of the 30-minutes club.
Still, Dragic remains incredibly effective when he’s on the court. And this season, he played more than enough to warrant the benefit of the doubt (59 games). Devonte’ Graham, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul and Fred VanVleet were the only other players to put up 15-plus points and five assists per game while canning more than 36 percent of their triples.
Dragic has fared even better during the playoffs, throughout which he’s joined the starting five. He’s averaging 21.3 points and 4.5 assists in nearly 35 minutes per game and swishing 37.8 percent of his treys. Age-34 Dwyane Wade is the only other 33-and-up player to clear these benchmarks in at least 10 postseason tilts, and he attempted far fewer threes.
Guarding Dragic remains a pain. He is slippery off the dribble, and defenses collapse on his drives—particularly when he’s finishing around the rim like he is now. The Miami Heat, for their part, don’t make this deep of a playoff push without him. He leads the team in field-goal attempts by a comically cosmic 55-shot margin, and the offense is appreciably more efficient with him on the floor, despite his getting plenty of solo reps.
Roughly one-third of Dragic’s possessions are coming with Jimmy Butler on the bench, and more than 15 percent haven’t included Butler or Bam Adebayo. So give him his due. He’s not playing like a typical 34-year-old, and Miami might soon be hanging another championship banner (partially) because of it.
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.
Yet he’s 35.
Did I do that?
Seasons played: 14
Age: 34
Averages 2019-20: 19. 4 points, 5. 0 rebounds, 7. 5 assists, 1. 4 steals, 59. 0 percentage actual shot
Kyle Lowry doesn’t bet like the one who just finished his season at 33.
He thunders and hits. Adjusts its shape to attack and fails in defense. Filtra. No sacrifices his body so much that he volunteers to throw it away. No one has attracted more accusations in the normal season.
Pascal Siakam is now almost universally identified as the Toronto Raptors’ most productive player. Lowry is a close friend at the moment. It could even be the first given Siakam’s downfall in the playoffs.
Either way, Lowry is the Raptors’ ultimate life player, it’s the engine that drives them, even when he doesn’t have the ball, the overall list turns out to have tracked his energy, and Toronto entrusts him with vigilance he won’t. trust no one else. He recorded many more assets without Siakam and Fred VanVleet than under the same circumstances.
Whether Lowry can take over that charge for an entire normal season and through an increase in the playoffs is debatable, but neither does the answer. LeBron James is the only player on this list who is the most productive player in a protective team. Lowry’s taste is postseason-proof, wire-to-wire, when there is a consensus No. 2 you don’t have to go over that point as well. (See: Season, Last). It’s literally ridiculous for someone who is now over 35 years old than 33.
Oh, and let’s not forget, it defies age in the truest sense of the word. He didn’t sniff out his true high point until his time of the year with the Raptors at the age of 27. This promotion necessarily continued his 30-year stint. Even this year, after the departure of Kawhi Leonard, he raised his score, raising his average from 14. 2 points to 19. 4, which is not normal.
Seasons played: 15
Age: 35
Averages 2019-20: 17. 6 points, 5. 0 rebounds, 6. 7 assists, 1. 6 steals, 61. 0 percentage actual shot
Chris Paul deserves to approach the end of LeBron James’s spectrum, where we are running out of adjectives to describe how its functionality opposes its longevity, but injuries to the hamstrings undermined his availability for his two years with Houston, some of which were essential to the mission, and the Rockets then treated him as the least active in Russell Westbrook’s industry during the off-season.
Seen together, even acknowledging that his move to Oklahoma City was not purely a basketball decision, all of this has become evidence of regression, of age drawing his ugly and undefeated record.
It turns out that this perception of Paul’s hindsight was an illusion. It doesn’t leak enough to completely disintegrate on the switches, but it’s still the same unforgiving guy. Turns out he’s working his way through 3 semi-transition hitches until At the end of time, his mid-range game is fatal and few point guards are as professional accompanying implosion defenses.
Thunder’s good fortune this season says it all. They made their way into the most sensible five-man seed and got into some possessions here to beat the Rockets in the first round. Paul is the cornerstone of all this. Oklahoma City’s offensive score advanced through 13. 7 points per hundred possessions with him in the lineup, the second highest swing among all players with at least 250 minutes.
Waiting for Paul to pin a genuine name risk is probably a little over the top. But not huge. And, in fact, it’s someone who can be the finishing touch for the championship, as long as some other team is willing to pay the $85. 6 million bill it owes you over the next two years, which Array since this deal hasn’t aged badly yet. not be a decisive factor.
Seasons played: 14
Age: 36
Averages 2019-20: 15. 3 points, 2. 5 rebounds, 2. 0 assists, 0. 3 steals, 64. 4 percentage actual shot
JJ Redick is more of an old killer.
Shooting grays as temporarily or as abruptly as athletics or size. His coronation ability is destined to age well.
However, at a more granular level, Redick’s functionality is an anomaly, it’s not just a shooter. It is a functional shooter, which shoots unbalanced cyclists around screens and can drain with its own style.
Redick’s 42. 1% of the shooter trios this season finished first among the 84 players who attempted at least 75 of the single shots. It finished in the 81st percentile in power coming out of the screens and was not below the 74th percentile (2016-17). from at least 2015-16.
Getting out of the bounds of his role with the Los Angeles Clippers has even allowed Redick to expand his offensive portfolio. The advent of pick-and-roll has represented at least 10% of its offensive property in the more than 3 years, and has erased the 94th percentile of potencyArraySingle, Time.
Unsurprisingly, Redick’s marriage between notation and potency is unprecedented for his age. Artis Gilmore, a 7. 2″ tall man, is the only player to average more than 15 numbers after turning 33 with a higher percentage of live shots than Redick’s. this season.
Seasons played: 15
Age: 33
Averages 2019-2020: 18. 2 points, 3. 1 rebounds, 5. 6 assists, 0. 7 steals, 54. 6 percentage shots
We’2044. La normal season is coming to an end. Bronny James is expected to retire if he wins the number one name more than his father. Analytics and The Eye Test celebrate their first wedding anniversary. Kawhi Leonard is a few months away from cryosleep’s launch, just in time to lose his will. The New York Knicks will sign a superstar this summer. They promise.
And Lou Williams, 57, is getting buckets.
I’m kidding. I guess. Well, maybe. Actually, I’m not sure.
Williams is an eternal fanatic. Of course, his variety of shots and his ability to throw fouls don’t fit the postseason. His rate of free-throw attempts over the more than 3 years has gone from Array402 in the regular season to 0. 291 in the playoffs. But we’ll have to appreciate his paintings for eternity.
His 4 memorable peak seasons came after his 30th birthday, at which point he excelled as a pick-and-roll companion. Although its importance to clippers now dressed as superstars has changed, it still emits the temperament for the sixth boy of the year.
Maybe the decline is coming. Williams will be 34 in October. Again, when you look at it, you get the impression that it can mercilessly roast men on the switches, going left, infinity and beyond.
Unless otherwise stated, statistics are provided through NBA. com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale) and pay attention to his podcast Hardwood Knocks, co-host through Adam Fromal of B/R.