LeBron James turns 40: A look at statistical NBA milestones at that age

LeBron James turns 40 on Monday, and the Los Angeles Lakers star is set to join a small list of NBA players who have played in the league at that age.

A look at some statistical milestones for players in their 40s in NBA history:

Score 40 to 40

There has only been one 40-point game for a 40-year-old in NBA history. This stage belongs to Michael Jordan. On February 21, 2003, four days after turning 40, Jordan scored 43 points for Washington in an 89-86 victory over New Jersey.

There have only been seven games of 30 points or more by players after the age of 40 – Jordan has four, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Dirk Nowitzki all have one. Those of Abdul-Jabbar and Malone took place during the playoff games.

Triple-double

Like 40-point games, triple-doubles are extremely rare for 40-year-olds, with only one recorded in the league. Malone had it: 10 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists for the Lakers in a 103-87 victory over San Antonio on November 28, 2003.

Double-doubles are much more common among people in their forties. There have been 95 over the years: John Stockton had 23, Robert Parish had 22, Malone had 21, Abdul-Jabbar had 14, Jordan had eight, Dikembe Mutombo had five and Steve Nash and Nowitzki each had one.

Total points after 40

James will increase this list. Not counting Tim Duncan and Danny Schayes – they both played in playoff games at age 40, but never a regular season game – there have been 29 players who scored in the NBA after their 40th birthday.

And eight of those players – Juwan Howard, Charles Jones, Rick Mahorn, Charles Oakley, Bob Cousy, Jamal Crawford, Nat Hickey and Joe Johnson – didn’t score more than 21 total points after turning 40. James could surpass them all in a single game. .

Abdul-Jabbar has the most points after turning 40: he has scored 1,941. Only he, Robert Parish (1,706), Vince Carter (1,433) and Stockton (1,088) have more than 1,000 points at this age.

LeBron will not be the oldest

James is currently the oldest player in the NBA, but it’s probably safe to say that he won’t set the record for oldest player in NBA history. He will have to play six more years to achieve this.

The oldest man to appear in an NBA game was Nat Hickey, who played in two games for the Providence Steamrollers on January 27 and 28, 1948. Hickey played the second of those games two days before his 46th birthday.

He was 0 of 6 from the field and 2 of 3 from the foul line. In his second game, he was charged with four fouls in three minutes of play. And he never played again.

40 in the final

Over the past two decades, only one player in his 40s has appeared in an NBA Finals game. That would be Miami’s Udonis Haslem, who was two days shy of turning 43 when he played in a game for the Heat in the 2023 title series against Denver.

Before him, the last forty-year-old in the final was Malone in 2004.

An average night

The average game for a player at age 40: 6.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists. This should be a standard from James every night. His thirty-year-old playing average: 26.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 8.1 assists.

Who is next?

After James, the next NBA player to turn 40 will be San Antonio’s Chris Paul, who will reach the milestone on May 6. He would likely have to go in the second round of the playoffs to play at age 40 this season.

Charlotte’s Taj Gibson turns 40 on June 24, so he’ll have to come back next season to play at that age.

Next from there would be Philadelphia’s Kyle Lowry, who turns 40 on March 25, 2026, and would play at that age if he returns for a 20th year next season.

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