While LeBron James continues to marvel as he nears his 41st birthday, he’s still a few years away from matching the oldest player to grace an NBA court since 2000.
After previously exploring the oldest MLB players since 2000 in wake of 44-year-old Philip Rivers taking over as the starting quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, I began to similarly wonder about the oldest NBA players in recent memory as LeBron James continues to dazzle in Year 23.
While James is only bested by Robert Parish when it comes to total Games Played in NBA history, a handful of players have played at older ages than James is right now – with much of that being owed to LeBron entering the league as an 18-year-old out of high school.
Unlike the comparitively more expansive history of older players found in the NFL, MLB and NHL, the NBA has seen an even more exclusive group of players remain on rosters beyond age 40, with only 34 players in league history accomplishing the feat.
Notably, there’s also an asterisk accompanying the league’s oldest player of all-time, Nat Hickey. Hickey was 45 years, 363 days old at the time of his final game as a player-coach of the Providence Steamrollers on Jan. 28, 1948. This predated the formal establishment of the NBA by two seasons, occurring when the league was known as the BAA, or the Basketball Association of America.
Although quite rare overall in NBA history, players extending their careers into their 40s is a relatively recent trend, with 24 of the 34 players to play in a game at 40 years or older having done so in the past 25 years.
Here’s a closer look at the five oldest players of that bunch:
5. John Stockton – 41 years, 35 days – April 30, 2003
The all-time leader in assists and steals, John Stockton is widely regarded as one of the best point guards in NBA history, with his longevity playing a key role in his status as an all-time great.
A careerlong member of the Utah Jazz, Stockton played from 1984 to 2003, remarkably appearing in the postseason in every season of his 19-year career.
A 10x All-Star and an 11x All-NBA point guard, Stockton’s best chance at basketball glory came in 1997 and 1998, when the Jazz fell in six games to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals in back-to-back seasons.
Stockton averaged 11.2/3.2/5.2/1.6/0.2 in the 2002-03 season, and managed eight points, one rebound and seven assists in the final game of his career, a 111-91 loss to the Sacramento Kings that eliminated Utah from the postseason.
4. Dikembe Mutombo – 42 years, 300 days – April 21, 2009
One of the greatest shot-blockers and frontcourt defenders of all-time, the late Dikembe Mutombo was also known for sustaining a long NBA career despite entering the league as a 25-year-old rookie in November 1991.
Initially making a name for himself in five seasons with the Denver Nuggets, Mutombo went on to spend four-and-a-half seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, a tenure that saw him win three of his four Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Mutombo was a notable midseason acquisition of the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2000-01 season, with Mutombo winning the final DPOY of his career and playing a pivotal role on a team that reached the NBA Finals, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.
After a full season with the Sixers, the 36-year-old veteran then hopped around the division, spending the following season with the New Jersey Nets who would make their own appearance in the NBA Finals before signing on with the New York Knicks for the 2003-04 season.
Mutombo then concluded his career with a five-year tenure with the Houston Rockets, with his role being especially limited in his final season. The 42-year-old big man appeared in just nine games and made only two starts in 2008-09, later appearing in two playoff games.
Mutombo recorded one foul in one minute and 40 seconds of action in Game 2 of the 2009 Western Conference First Round, a 107-103 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers that went on to serve as his final NBA game.
3. Udonis Haslem – 42 years, 363 days – June 7, 2023
A careerlong member of the Miami Heat, Haslem saw his role evolve greatly during his long career, from promising young starter to star bench player and eventually de facto player-coach.
Entering the league undrafted, Haslem signed with Miami as a free agent in August 2003, with the 2003-04 season serving as his rookie year at the age of 23.
Haslem went on to appear in at least one game for the Heat in every season from 2003-04 through 2022-23, winning three NBA championships along the way in 2006, 2012 and 2013.
Primarily a power forward who spent time as a center later in his career, Haslem finished 18th in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2006-07 and ninth in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2009-10, the season before Chris Bosh and LeBron James arrived to kick off “The Heatles” era.
Haslem’s final NBA game came in garbage time of a 109-94 loss in Game 3 of the 2023 NBA Finals. In 29 seconds of play, Haslem missed his lone field goal attempt, a two-point shot. The game concluded a relatively inactive period of his career, which saw Haslem appear in just 35 regular season games over his final five NBA seasons.
2. Vince Carter – 43 years, 45 days – March 11, 2020
Known as “Half Man, Half Amazing,” Vince Carter still holds the distinction as the only NBA player to ever play in four different decades.
Debuting with the Toronto Raptors on Feb. 5, 1999 at the start of the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, Carter went on to play his final game on the day the league shut down at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Though never a league champion, Carter is a Hall of Famer and retired with a laundry list of accolades, primarily centered around his time with the Raptors and New Jersey Nets that took up the first 11 of his 22 NBA seasons.
From there, Carter became a well-valued journeyman, spending just over a season with the Orlando Magic from 2009 to December 2010, which saw the veteran wing get shipped to the Phoenix Suns where he would finish out the 2010-11 campaign.
Carter then spent three years with the Dallas Mavericks, earning Sixth Man of the Year votes in two of those seasons as he flourished in the role as one of the league’s most reliable bench contributors. He then reprised the role for another three seasons as a member of the division rival Memphis Grizzlies immediately afterwards, receiving Sixth Man of the Year votes in 2016-17, his final season with the club.
From there, Carter played one season with the Sacramento Kings before taking on a mentorship role for a young Atlanta Hawks team for two seasons from 2018 to 2020. Carter retired with 25,728 career points, having been named to eight All-Star teams and two All-NBA teams.
In his final career game, Carter recorded five points and one rebound on 2-for-5 shooting that included hitting one of two three-point attempts in a 136-131 overtime loss to the New York Knicks.
1. Kevin Willis – 44 years, 224 days – April 18, 2007
Though not a Hall of Famer nor household name among those who aren’t dedicated NBA fans, Kevin Willis was a mainstay on NBA rosters, appearing in parts of 21 seasons and holding the distinction as the oldest player to play in an NBA game since the league took on the name ahead of the 1949-50 season.
Willis debuted on Oct. 26, 1984 as a 22-year-old rookie member of the Atlanta Hawks, the team he is remembered most for as he went on to play 11 seasons for the club across two separate tenures.
Despite missing the 1988-89 season due to injury, Willis remained a consistent piece on the Hawks roster before being traded very early on in the 1994-95 season to the Miami Heat. Willis finished off the season in South Florida and played the first half of the following season with the Heat before being shipped to the Golden State Warriors as a trade deadline acquisition.
Now in the journeyman phase of his career, Willis went on to play the following two seasons with the Houston Rockets before starting a two-plus season tenure with the Toronto Raptors immediately afterwards. Willis was traded to the Denver Nuggets midway through the 2000-01 season, eventually returning to the Rockets in a trade shortly before the 2001-02 season.
Willis then spent the following two years with the San Antonio Spurs, winning his first and only NBA title in 2003, appearing in 18 of 24 playoff games en route to the franchise’s second league championship. After playing 29 games in a second stint with the Hawks in 2004-05, Willis retired after the season and appeared to be done as a player.
Remaining retired through the 2005-06 season, Willis signed with the Western Conference-leading Dallas Mavericks late in the 2006-07 regular season, playing five regular season games with the club. Though Willis was on Dallas’ playoff roster, he didn’t make it into game action as the Mavericks were bounced in a historic five-game upset at the hands of the Golden State Warriors.
In his final NBA game, Willis posted six points, four rebounds and one steal on 3-for-7 shooting in a 106-75 win over the Seattle SuperSonics on the road.
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