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:

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.

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:

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 averaging a 26-5-5 on 52/41/88 shooting splits. Only Al Horford, who was a fifth option on the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics, was more efficient at 37 years old.

Curry might have joined Durant on an All-NBA team if he had not failed to meet the NBA’s 65-game requirement. In 40 games, he is averaging a 27-4-5 on 47/39/93 shooting splits. His shortened season absolutely still qualifies as one of the greatest age-37 years in history.

Most surprising, though, might be where Leonard ranks on an age-34 scale. He is averaging a 28-6-4 on 51/38/90 shooting splits, arguably his best regular season in a Hall of Fame career, for a Los Angeles Clippers team bound for the play-in tournament.

He, too, could crack the All-NBA First or Second Team. In which case, he would join another extremely short list of players who have accomplished that feat at age 34:

Again, there is a pretty good argument to be made — one based on Player Efficiency Rating — that Leonard is enjoying the greatest statistical age-34 regular season ever.

To be fair: It is hard to top Michael Jordan’s age-34 season. In 1997-98, he led his Chicago Bulls to a sixth championship in eight years, sweeping the regular-season and Finals MVP awards. For good measure, Jordan also made the All-Defensive First Team at 34 years old.

However, Leonard is averaging comparable numbers to ‘98 Jordan on better efficiency (Kawhi: 63.0 TS%; Jordan: 53.3 TS%), which explains the PER gap. There is also an All-Defensive case for Leonard this season, as he is among the NBA’s leaders in both steals and deflections. Only Nikola Jokić (+16.7) and Victor Wembanyama (+15.7) own a higher on/off efficiency rating than Leonard (+14.7) among NBA regulars, per Cleaning the Glass.

It is a testament to this year’s MVP field that Leonard could be enjoying a statistically comparable season to ‘98 Jordan and finish no higher than fifth in the voting. That is how good Jokić, Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Dončić have been this season.

It is also no guarantee Leonard even cracks the All-NBA First Team, since Jaylen Brown is enjoying a comparable season (29-7-5 on 48/35/80; 22.2 PER) for a better team. Plenty of other candidates, including Donovan Mitchell, warrant serious consideration.

Should Leonard make the All-NBA Second Team instead, he will be the first non-center to log a 28.1 PER and fail to make the All-NBA First Team since 27-year-old Durant in 2015-16.

In other words, either compare Leonard’s age-34 campaign to Jordan’s at the same age or to prime Durant. Either one. Point being: We are witnessing some of the best age-34, age-37 and age-41 seasons, all at the same time, courtesy of Leonard, Durant and James.

Appreciate them while you can, for none of them may make it out of the opening round. Partly because Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama are respectively enjoying two of the greatest age-27 and age-22 seasons ever. The same could be said of Jokić at age 30, Dončić at age 26, Cooper Flagg at age 19 and more. It is an embarrassment of NBA riches.