LeBron James turns 41 on Tuesday. It may be the last birthday he celebrates in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers forward is the greatest longevity exercise the NBA has ever seen, playing his 23rd season in the competition. Here are 23 facts that explain it. Some of them will endure forever.1. First player to play 23 seasons in the NBA. He made his debut in 2003 with the Cavaliers (11 years in two stages) and has also played for the Heat (four years) and the Lakers (eight)
2. LeBron made his NBA debut 8,098 days ago.It was October 29, 2003.
3. On December 21, 2006, the day Cooper Flagg was born, the youngest player currently in the NBA, LeBron was already playing his 263rd game in the League.4. He is the only active player from the 2003 draft class. There are none left from 2004 and from 2005 only Chris Paul remains, recently released by the Clippers. From 2006, only Kyle Lowry is still playing.5. At 41 years of age, he is the 12th oldest player in NBA history. He is a long way from the record of Nat Hickey, who in January 1948 played his last game at the age of 46 (45 years and 363 days).6. LeBron is older than five NBA coaches: Joe Mazzulla (37, Celtics), Will Hardy (37, Jazz), Mitch Johnson (39, Spurs), Mark Daigneault (40, Thunder) and Jordan Ott (40, Suns). His coach, JJ Redick, older by only six months, entered the NBA after him (2006) and retired before him (2021).
7. He has coincided in the NBA with 82 players who were not born when he made his debut.8. He has played with a dozen pairs of fathers and sons: Glenn Robinson I and II, Ricky and Jalen Brunson, Gary Trent and Gary Trent Jr, Kenyon and KJ Martin, Gary Payton and Gary Payton II, Adrian and AJ Griffin, Jabari Smith and Jabari Smith Jr, Samaki and Jabari Walker, Juwan and Jett Howard and Dale and Trayce Jackson-Davis.LeBron has faced 1,799 rivals, which is 36.43% of all the players who have played in the NBA throughout history.10. First player to play in the NBA with a son. In October 2024, LeBron and Bronny became the first father-son duo to play together in the league, also sharing a team with the Lakers.
11. Until a few weeks ago, he was the youngest and oldest player to score 40 points in a game. The precocity record was taken away by Cooper Flagg. LeBron did it at 19 years and 88 days. The veteran record, at 40 years and 52 days. He is also the only player with two 40-point games past the age of 40.12. He is the second player in history with the most regular season games. He has 1,576 and, barring any setbacks, should soon surpass Robert Parish, who reached 1,611.13. He has played 59,502 minutes, more than anyone else. That is equivalent to 991.7 hours on the court, or 41.3 days, or 1.3 months.In the 22 NBA seasons he has played, he has finished with more than 20 points per game. In the current season, with the worst average of his career, he is at 20.5.15. He is the best player in history over 40 years old. His averages since he turned 40 are 23.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists. Beastly.16. 21-time All-Star. Another record. And he wasn’t even selected for the 2004 All-Star Game, in his first NBA season.17.All-time leading scorer. LeBron James is the only player to have surpassed the 40,000-point barrier in the NBA regular season. He currently has 42,471. In February 2023, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387.
18. Member of the NBA’s best quintet on 13 occasions, an achievement he has achieved over three different decades: he made his debut in 2006 and the last time was in 2020.19. Second oldest player to record a triple-double. Karl Malone did 10+11+10 in November 2003 at 40 years and 127 days. LeBron did 21+10+13 in January 2025 at 40 years and 23 days.20. 1,297 consecutive games scoring at least 10 points, a streak that was only recently broken. Only 26 players in NBA history have played that many games in their entire career.He has played in 292 playoff games, more than anyone else in history.He is also the player with the most points in the title series: 8,289. He has 2,302 more than Michael Jordan.He is the fourth player with the most games in the NBA Finals. He has 55, only behind Bill Russell (70), Sam Jones and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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