Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Father Time is undefeated. Nothing’s gonna change that, and no one can stop it. In the end, all he does is win, win, win.
But he’s gotta play the long game against LeBron James.
James hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down at 38-years-old as his 21st NBA season gets underway. He opened with a tidy 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists in Tuesday’s defeat against the Denver Nuggets. It wasn’t quite the age-defying performance of last season, when he averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, but it’s close enough.
He might not be the greatest of all time, but not even Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or fill-in-the-blank has been this great for this long. Size, speed and strength have been freakish superpowers for James, but his endurance and persistence are equally remarkable.
The old man in the club is now the league’s oldest player, throwing down against youngsters who grew up watching him. “He’s still out here making us look bad in practice,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves told the Associated Press. Reaves was 5-years-old during James’ rookie season.
Bronny James was a newborn baby.
LeBron has been open about wanting to play alongside his oldest son, theoretically as soon as next year. Bronny is a freshman with the USC Trojans and will be eligible for the 2024 NBA draft. The projected first-round pick underwent surgery after suffering cardiac arrest during a workout in July and still hasn’t returned to practice. But he’s on the way to full participation and showed off some moves last week during USC’s Midnight Madness.
I don’t have a son and my father died when I was four weeks old, so the relationship dynamics are foreign to me. But based on my knowledge of parenthood in general,…
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