Evergreen LeBron James defies the age barrier

LeBron James is getting old. He turns 33 today and is showing all the usual signs of ageing. Except on the court.

Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James slam dunks against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.

LeBron James is getting old. He turns 33 today.

He’s showing all the usual signs of ageing. He’s more vocal about politics. He’s extremely opinionated and incredibly picky when it comes to wine. And what he’s gained in wisdom he’s lost in hair.

But he’s also LeBron James. There is nothing usual about him. Somehow, in his 15th season, after seven consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, having worked more than anybody in NBA history at his age, as everything we thought we knew about longevity, performance and the limits of the human body would suggest he should be getting worse, the best player on the planet is still getting better.

It was reasonable to believe that James was in his prime when he won two NBA championships and MVP awards with the Miami Heat. It seemed like he’d peaked. And then he kept climbing. His numbers this season aren’t merely good for most NBA players. They’re good for LeBron James.

He’s very much in the conversation for his fifth MVP, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are once again title contenders even after trading Kyrie Irving and waiting for Isaiah Thomas. All they have done since their puzzling 5-7 start is win 18 of 21 games. While the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets have ascended into their stratosphere, a fourth consecutive Finals between the Warriors and Cavaliers still feels likely. It’s almost entirely because of one player.

“I’ve run out of ways to explain his greatness,” Cleveland guard Kyle Korver said.

So let us count the ways.

GRAPHIC: LeBron v All-time Greats

James is much better than the league’s oldest players, and he’s much older than the league’s best players.

The most productive NBA stars in terms of value above the replacement player this year averaged 16,000 career minutes coming into this season. James was the only one above 32,000 minutes — and he’d logged more than 50,000 minutes. He’s still far and away No 1 in the VORP rankings.

The irony of James ruling this era that will be remembered for the way the league was revolutionised by shooting is that he’s never been an outstanding shooter. He never had to be. But the subtle tweaks he made to his mechanics during three-a-day workouts over the summer have paid off. He’s now shooting a career-high 41 per cent on threes — which means James is quietly a more accurate three-point shooter this season than Stephen Curry.

And it isn’t only that he’s a better three-point shooter than ever. James is also a better two-point shooter than ever.

His percentage inside the arc is the highest of his career, and he’s making 77.9 per cent of his field goals in the restricted area. The few players who are that unstoppable around the basket only take half as many shots as James.

If there is one metric that explains how dominant he’s been — and how astounding it is that he’s still this dominant — it’s his effective field-goal percentage of 62.8 per cent. In his four MVP seasons, the years when he was too good to take for granted, James’s effective field-goal percentages were 53 per cent, 54.5 per cent, 55.4 per cent and 60.3 per cent. He’s now more efficient than the most efficient versions of himself.

But enough with his scoring. James is the NBA’s best player in part because he might be the best passer. He’s on his way to career highs in assists (9.3 per game) and potential assists (18.7 per game), and even more revealing is his assist rate, the percentage of his team’s field goals he assists while on the court. His career assist rate is 35 per cent. His career-high assist rate is 41.8 per cent. His assist rate this year is 45.4 per cent.

He knows how his teammates like their passes. He knows where they like their passes. He even knows when to make his passes.

“I can see plays happen before they actually happen,” James said.

That’s because he is a basketball genius. The esteemed LeBronologists who have studied his game and appreciate its complexities understand what makes it work: his intelligence.

His old high-school coach Keith Dambrot, for example, would introduce a play at practice. James would process the information almost immediately. He could play all five positions and tell everyone on the court where they were supposed to be and why.

“And I’m talking when he was 14 years old,” said Dambrot, who is now Duquesne’s coach. “You’d have to be an idiot not to notice how smart he is.”

To watch him play now is to see total control. James warps the game to his will. He can slow down when necessary and speed up when necessary. What happens is usually what James wants to happen.

“It’s like he’s pulling the strings,” said James’s business partner, Maverick Carter, the CEO of SpringHill Entertainment and Uninterrupted.

James’s biggest advantage is his mind, and it has only become more important as his game has evolved. “It’s not that he’s gotten smarter,” Carter said. “He’s more in control of his brain.” His court vision is sharper. His shot distribution is shrewder. His arsenal of tricks is fuller, and his reservoir of knowledge is deeper. He’s older, and if he’s not better than he once was, it has become undeniable that he’s still getting better.

“The thing I love about LeBron is that he’s a lifelong learner,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, his Team USA coach at the Olympics. “He continues to want to learn about his craft.”

And now something interesting is happening. For the majority of his life, James has been compared with incredible players who came before him, and it was always unfair to him. It was like not being able to enjoy sushi because it wasn’t pizza. But his burden may soon be his benefit. Because even the incredible players who came before James are beginning to pale in comparison.

James has played 31 per cent more than Michael Jordan — who Barack Obama this week said he still preferred — at the same age, and he’s already played thousands of minutes more than Jordan in his entire career. Jordan was a shadow of himself by his 15th season. It’s rare for any Hall of Famer to play 15 seasons. It’s unprecedented for someone to reign over the league in his 15th season.

So how is he doing this? How is he still doing this?

James himself offered the latest explanation: His ultimate goal is to beat the ageing process. Which is why the second half of his career may be as transformational as the first. He wants to change the way the league behaves — again. “Hopefully I can break the mould,” he said, “so when the next guy comes, he can still get $200 or $300 million and be 33 years old.”

The only problem for the next guy is that he won’t be LeBron James.

The Wall Street Journal