LeBron James and the continued greatness of the ‘old’ superstars

LeBron James’ 2025-26 campaign is so obviously the greatest age-41 season in NBA history, it is actually hilarious. Only four other players have even managed to play half a season at 41 years old, and James has essentially matched their production combined.

Here they all are:

AGE

SEASON

PTS-REB-AST

FG%/3P%/FT%

PER

LeBron James

41

2025-26

21-6-7

51/31/74

20.1

Kevin Willis

41

2003-04

3-2-0

47/0/62

14.9

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

41

1988-89

10-5-1

48/0/74

12.9

Vince Carter

41

2018-19

7-3-1

42/39/71

10.8

Robert Parish

41

1994-95

5-4-1

43/0/70

10.1

The old guy’s still got it. Or the old guys still got it, we should say. Because Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Kawhi Leonard are putting together special years for their ages, too.

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Where do Durant and Curry rank on an age-37 scale? Pretty high! In fact, only three players ever have averaged 25 points per game at 37 years old, and two of them — Durant and Curry — are doing it this season. (The other is, of course, LeBron.)

Only 12 players ever made an All-Star team at age 37, including Durant and Curry. Only three of them — LeBron, Kareem and Karl Malone — made an All-NBA team at 37. So, you could also make a good case Durant is enjoying the best age-37 regular season ever:

AGE

SEASON

PTS-REB-AST

FG%/3P%/FT%

PER

ALL-NBA

LeBron James

37

2021-22

30-8-6

52/36/76

26.2

3rd Team

Karl Malone

37

2000-01

23-8-5

50/40/79

24.7

3rd Team

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

37

1984-85

22-8-3

60/0/73

22.9

2nd Team

Kevin Durant

37

2025-26

26-5-5

52/41/88

21.0

???

Only Abdul-Jabbar made the All-NBA Second Team at age 37 (both James and Malone were members of the Third Team), and Durant has a considerable opportunity to join him.

James’ Los Angeles Lakers failed to make the playoffs in his age-37 season. Malone’s Utah Jazz lost in the 2001 first round. Abdul-Jabbar led his Lakers to a championship, winning Finals MVP honors. So, it will be tough for Durant to match that feat, even if he currently ranks second in the NBA in total minutes for a 50-win Houston Rockets team.

As far as regular seasons go, though, Durant is the reason why Houston still has a top-10 offense, despite losing both Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams to season-ending injuries. He is…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/lebron-james-and-the-continued-greatness-of-the-old-superstars-183653592.html

Author : Ben Rohrbach

Publish date : 2026-04-07 18:36:00

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