LeBron James vs Father Time

they said it couldn't be done teenage Prodigy hitting the NBA straight out of high school crowned the chosen one and then actually living up to that impossible hype for over two decades but LeBron James continues to shatter expectations playing at an MVP level at an age when most are ready to retire his longevity is so remarkable he could still be playing in the league when his son bronnie joins at 39 years old the king is somehow still one of the League's elite players averaging over 25 points per game has he beat father time how is this Supernatural longevity even possible and how much longer can he keep going like this James for the win it's gone LeBron James at the buzzer stuns the Chicago blls and the series is tied at two games a piece LeBron is considered by many people to be the greatest player of all time but there are also many people who think he is not in fact if there's one thing we've learned with TV debates it's that the goat debate is never going to have a clear answer Jordan's 6 and0 argument seems to Eclipse anything Braun does stop it he just became the first player in the 40K Points Club which by the way seemed impossible not too many years ago the player with most Allstar selections with the most all NBA teams with the most playoff wins ever and of course with the most playoff points achieving incredible Milestones has become so routine for him that they seem to have lost their their meaning however there is one thing about the king that is not debatable Iguodala to Curry back to Iguodala up for the layup oh blocked by James LeBron James with a rejection LeBron James is the greatest athletic Prodigy in the history of all Collective Sports his longevity has gone from incredible to completely absurd he has played against 35% of all players in NBA history think about that 35% of all players ever he's definitely got the longevity Crown in one of the most physically demanding leagues in the world LeBron is achieving unimaginable Milestones LeBron is one of only six players in history to ever play 21 seasons in the NBA and what is most impressive is he's still one of the top 10 players in the entire league right now yes at 39 years old James is averaging 25.3 points 7.1 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game on 52% from the field and 41% % from three which is the best Mark of his entire career that's crazy it doesn't make any sense but really how long can LeBron James keep playing in the NBA like this these kinds of Milestones have to be put in context so what better way than to compare him to one of those six players who played 21 seasons in the NBA Dirk nitzki after retiring the German had this to say if I had retired 2 years earlier I'm sure I would be able to move around better now I could play football all once in a while with the kids now I can't even do that Dirk is 3 in taller than James and it shows the bones are heavier and the frame is more work to maintain nitzki could barely stay on the court for half a quarter during his last two seasons LeBron is averaging 35 minutes per game at the same age not only that but if he manages to stay in the NBA for the 2025 to 2026 season he would become the first player in history to play 23 seasons in the league surpassing Vince Carter record of 22 how is this possible and not just talking about his incredible athleticism allowing him to still be in the league at 39 years old I'm talking about him still being one of the League's elite players during what could be if he wanted his farewell tour he obviously has a gift we've known that since we watched his highlights at St Vincent St Mary's more than 20 years ago and there's no doubt that one of the most striking aspects of LeBron was his verticality and his play Above the Rim but the investment of time money you have to make to maintain those qualities for so long is unbelievable LeBron invests a million5 dollar per year on maintaining his health and body that's insane such commitment and dedication he was reportedly one of the first players to invest in a cryo chamber which uses liquid nitrogen to essentially be a more efficient version of an ice bath he also makes use of the hyperbaric chamber to put more oxygen into his body as well as the normat tech leg boots not to mention mention all the expenses for staff such as chefs or trainers and the strict diets he has to follow a sacrifice for any mortal but not for a talent with LeBron's hunger his investment into his health has proved incredibly fruitful Landing many huge contracts over the years throughout his extended career but it's not just an economic investment LeBron is really making an investment in his legacy this commitment to his physical well-being has allowed James to continue dominating the NBA well into his late 30s showcasing an unparalleled level of Elite Performance and Longevity we've never ever seen before it's really mind-blowing the fact that other top athletes in different sports have been inspired by James's approach highlights the impact he's made Beyond just basketball it's clear that LeBron James views the money spent on his body not as an expense but as an investment in his career Legacy in life after basketball what is the most usual argument for labeling Michael Jordan as the goat basically it's that his legendary six season stretch between 1990 and 1998 not counting the retirement in between was simply unmatched in his prime Jordan was the most dominant player in the history of basketball six finals six championships six finals MVPs he was simply unrivaled however LeBron's bid to become the greatest of all time is very different the strongest argument for LeBron's case is his consistency over time since he came into the league in 2003 and until today Braun hasn't taken a breath think about that LeBron has been playing in the league as long as Victor wanyama has been alive that's insane in every one of his Seasons except last one LeBron has ranked in the top 15 for MVP yes including his rookie season when he was only 18 years old the man finished ninth in the MVP ladder right out of high school in fact since 2005 until 2018 LeBron has never fallen out of the fifth position for the MVP James is amassing such an incredible amount of records and Milestones that with each passing day it seems more and more difficult not to recognize that his candidacy may be the strongest because if Jordan's career had a weakness it is that his unmatched Prime was not as durable as LeBron's he has not only been able to still score with an efficiency similar to his best prime seasons in the league but he also still has a huge impact on the game his game a few days ago against the Clippers he scored scored 19 points in the fourth quarter he willed them to an incredible comeback win this is an example of how surreal it is to watch a 39-year-old man still be able to impact the game at such a high level this massive investment towards his health was the best option to get to that Podium where he will be remembered forever that investment has served to prolong his career until God knows when but James is running two races not only the race of time but also the race of adaptability if you watch an NBA game from 20 2003 it has nothing to do with one from 2013 and if you watch one from 2013 it has nothing to do with one from 2023 the reason is simple the game has changed and continues to change in 2003 all the teams based their game on defense and the teams with good schemes on this side of the Court always managed to reach the last stages of the playoffs and except for some crazy coaches like Mike dantony who was a Pioneer in the evolution of basketball they all followed the traditional philosophy in 2013 a gentleman named Steph Curry changed the game completely the three-point Revolution affected the NBA at all levels and all teams adapted again in 2024 we are immersed in the pace and space era players are so good that they can score from anywhere on the court guards are getting bigger to be versatile Defenders and traditional basketball positions are all but extinct and you know what all these eras have in common LeBron James has been dominant in all of them the man has not only been able to adapt his game to his age but also to the changing League Miami Heat braon which in my opinion is his prime athletically had a completely different style of play his first step was simply unguardable and he abused it in Cleveland he changed where he reached his Prime on a mental and basketball IQ level and then in the Lakers he has changed again playing more off the ball and even playing at Center for a stretch of games a couple of seasons ago when ad was injured but in addition he's been able to adapt his game to what the NBA and his team required at the time to put into perspective how incredible this is we can look at the careers of other former NBA stars who have not been so lucky examples like John Wall or DeMarcus Cousins who in addition to suffering serious injuries were never able to adapt to the changing play style of the league when they were healthy they weren't even able to find spots even at the bottom of a rotation or like the case of Isaiah Thomas one of the biggest affected by the increase in the average size of players in the league who's been left without a spot because of his defensive inability LeBron has stayed out of all of this even having arrived much earlier in the league than all of these players another one of the King's greatest strengths has been avoiding serious injuries in fact before his arrival to the Lakers he had never missed more than 13 games in a single season the current 65 game threshold rule would have had literally no impact on his career the last few have been more complicated with injuries like the one he suffered to his foot last season that kept him off the court for weeks but when he has recovered in returned to play he's shown almost the same performance still nothing would affect LeBron James Legacy as much as the arrival of his son bronnie in the NBA for a decade now there's been speculation about the ability of this kid who some fans even believed was going to end up being better than his father we saw his first dunk his first High School game and recently his first college game with USC at first people wondered if his father could hold his own in the league until his arrival now that it's known that he can the issue seems more focused on Bron's chances of reaching the NBA LeBron could become the first father to play with his son in league history however this is still Far From Reality the problem is multi-layered and the family has a lot of decisions to make over the next few months putting such enormous pressure on a kid is not a positive thing but the truth is that the pressure has been put on by LeBron himself the situation is complicated because neither James senior nor James Jr know where they will be next season LeBron is a free agent and has the option to sign with any team in the league including the one that could draft his son and bronnie we still don't know if he will enter the draft or not after suffering a cardiac arrest at the beginning of the season it's completely unfair to judge his current performance it's a miracle that he's even playing this season but still if he were to enter the draft today some sources projected him to not even be drafted in the mock drafts LeBron downplayed the significance of mock drafts and took to Twitter to defend his son therein lies the other problem how many many teams would be willing to invest a draft pick in bronny with the sole intention of trying to lure LeBron through free agency basketball is not an easy world and just like any other it is mostly driven by motives and interests something that we can see every summer with soap operas like the one that this past summer starring James Harden and Daryl Mory all these pressures have caused LeBron to defend his son publicly in a message a little contradictory to the one he gave a few weeks ago but it's understandable as the situation ation is very complicated whether he gets to play with bronny or not this would just be the icing on the cake to his legacy it would be incredible to be honest because it's a story that impresses even non-basketball fans but really he doesn't need it if he wanted to Braun could pull off something even more impressive than that if someone asked you what age do you think LeBron could play in the NBA what would your answer be in my opinion with his current role I'm sure he could play at least three more years as a starter at least assum assuming he doesn't suffer any major injuries but I think I'm not the only one who thinks so the Lakers were willing to give him a 9f fig three-year contract this summer which would start during next season when he will turn 40 this means Braun would finish this contract at age 42 now if like Vince Carter he decided to downgrade his role in order to stay in the league even longer I'm not even capable of making a prediction because we don't have any precedent we all like to play The Guessing Game and predict the future but we always do it from our experience our prior observation allows us to sense where a player's career may be headed but that experience doesn't exist regarding LeBron the man is still doing the unimaginable and it's scary to think at what age he would be unable to play in the league he still has good explosiveness he's still fast and above all he's still very strong his declining athleticism has been compensated for by improved off-ball movement and improved long-range shooting after his elimination against the Denver Nuggets in the Conference Finals LeBron talked about the possibility of retiring something that caught everyone by surprise we have to get used to the idea that we will start to hear this possibility from now on very often I'm sure that a part of him would just like to finally hang up his boots let bronny go his way and take that break he finally deserves he could finally invest all that time on his family which seems his first priority in life but his ambition goes much further or at least for the moment he arrived idolizing Jordan choosing the number 23 he's managed to create a legacy just is great he came in with overwhelming hype as the chosen one and somehow was able to break even those expectations expected to dominate one era and ended up dominating three different ones nearly every major NBA record has fallen or will fall to his sustained excellence and Longevity from youngest to eldest scoring to playmaking regular season to playoffs he owns it all time after time we think we've witnessed LeBron's ceiling only for him to sh through it like one of his highflying dunks just when you're convinced the well must be running dry after two decades of sustained Brilliance he Wows you with another amazing performance for the ages his obsessive maintenance of his body through Millions invested in Cutting Edge recovery methods has radically redefined human longevity in sports his eagerness to adapt his game through the changing eras of the NBA has been poetry in motion so while LeBron may eventually ride off into the sunset to spend time with his family we'd be wise not to put any limits on his anticipated retirement date when you've already scaled Every Mountain in front of you why not redefine what's possible once more

Channel: Shooters Touch

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Id: U6cos67WT_M

Length: 15min 10sec (910 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 01 2024