Although the NBA usually experiences holidays of feverish activity on December 25 and January 1 of each year, for some seasons now another very special day has been inserted between those two dates: the birth of one of the most brilliant players who has competed in that league. This Saturday, LeBron James will celebrate his 39th birthday on the parquet floor of the Target Center in Minneapolis, where the Los Angeles Lakers will visit the Minnesota Timberwolves.
It will be the 10th time James will play on his birthday. Last year, he had 47 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists in the Lakers' 130-121 win over Atlanta. He became the fourth player in NBA history to score at least 45 points at age 38 or older, before Michael Jordan (three times), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamal Crawford.
Only once had LeBron achieved a better mark on Dec. 30: in 2009, when he celebrated his 25th birthday, he had scored 48 points in Cleveland's 106-101 win over Atlanta.
Since that last celebration, a combo of joys, frustrations, sorrows and records have seasoned the life of the eaves during the last lap of the Earth around the Sun. But some things haven't changed: the commitment to the sport he embraced when he was nine years old, his hyper-competitive nature, the leadership he exerts over his teammates and the respect he generates in his opponents (players, coaches, supporters).
47 PTS
10 REB
9 AST
Lakers W
LeBron showed out on his 38th birthday. pic.twitter.com/33lO5BnVpo
— NBA (@NBA) December 31, 2022
In this last year, the Akron-born player trained at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School became the top scorer in the NBA regular season: he achieved it on February 7, with the 38 points he scored in a 133-130 loss of the Lakers to the Oklahoma City Thunder. which allowed him to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 38,387 points and thus add another mark to his career.
He is also the all-time leader in points, wins, and games played in the NBA playoffs, and is the only player to win Finals MVP with three different teams: Cleveland, Miami, and the Los Angeles Lakers.
But 2023 also gave him a hard sporting slap in the face in May, when the Lakers suffered a crushing 4-0 loss in the Western Conference finals to Denver, the eventual NBA champion. After the final game of that series, in which he scored 40 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out 9 assists, King James suggested that that misstep could mark the end of his career.
"At this point in my career I'm not playing for anything other than winning championships. We'll see what happens later. I have to think about whether I want to continue playing," he said on May 22 and surprised everyone present in the conference room of the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
LeBron James' Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets in the last Western Conference finals. AP Photo
A long period of rest and reflection caused the possibility of retirement to be shelved. That's why, after a long journey that began in 2003, when he was 18 years old and was selected as the number one pick in the draft by Cleveland without having gone through college, James is playing his 21st season in the most competitive league on the planet. Only five other men reached that mark: Kevin Willis, Robert Parish, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett and Vince Carter, who holds the record with 22 seasons.
In the first part of the season, in which the Lakers have not quite got their footing, LeBron and his teammates had the pleasure of winning the first edition of the In-Season Tournament, a new tournament in cup format that the NBA implemented this year. The forward was instrumental in both the semifinal against New Orleans and the final against Indiana and was named the MVP of the tournament.
LeBron James was the MVP of the NBA In-Season Tournament.
"I only have one word to define LeBron: extraordinary. It's a blessing to know you're on the same side as him," his coach, Darvin Ham, praised him at the time. His teammates also highlighted the importance of the veteran to the team. "He looks healthy, fresh, in good spirits. He's never in a bad mood, he's always smiling, joking, laughing. When a player like him acts like that, it's a very positive boost in the locker room," said Austin Reaves, one of the youngsters on the roster.
At 39 years old, the winner of four NBA titles (in 2012 and 2013 with Miami, in 2016 with Cleveland and in 2020 with the Lakers) and four-time MVP of the season (2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013) maintains a remarkable validity: he averages 34.3 minutes and 25.4 points per game. Although little by little injuries and exhaustion are beginning to reduce his presence on the court: in none of the last three seasons has he reached 60 games in the regular season.
His early debut in the league and his durability have meant that in recent years James, who averaged more than 25 points in all his NBA seasons except the first (he recorded 20.9), plays more and more often against the children of rivals he faced at the dawn of his career. such as Jabari Smith Jr, Jalen Brunson, KJ Martin, Jabari Walker, Gary Payton II or AJ Griffin.
He's getting closer and closer to Robert Parish's record of 1,611 regular-season games: he has 1,450 and ranks eighth on the all-time list (and first among active men).
LeBron James is aiming to compete in the Olympics for the fourth time. Photo: AFP
The chance of hitting Parish's mark will depend on how much thread is left on LeBron's spool, a question for which only he has a good answer. For now, beyond his voracity for winning titles (he played his first NBA Finals at the age of 22 and the last, so far, at 36), there are a couple of targets on the list of the player who has a contract with the Lakers until 2025.
One of them is to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. If he does, it would represent his fourth appearance in an event of this calibre: he was champion with his national team in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, and won the bronze medal in Athens 2004 (lost in the semi-final to Argentina). In the United States, there is already speculation about a team that would also include other stars such as Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum.
Another of James' goals for the twilight of his career is to play in the NBA with Bronny, his 19-year-old eldest son, who three weeks ago made his NCAA tournament debut with the Trojans, the University of Southern California team, in a game against Long Beach State. That day, LeBron and his two other sons, Bryce and Zhuri, applauded wildly from one of the stands at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
LeBron James watches his son Bronny, who debuted Dec. 10 with the University of Southern California Trojans. Photo: AFP
Bronny's debut came just five months after he suffered a cardiac arrest from a congenital heart defect during a team practice. That was one of the most difficult moments in his father's life, who defined those days as "a whirlwind of emotions" for his family.
"It doesn't matter what's going on, the only thing that matters is the family. Seeing what (Bronny) had to go through in the last few months has been a lot. But the best thing is that we have each other," said LeBron, who will be able to celebrate his 39th birthday on Saturday with his children, his wife Savannah and his mother Gloria Marie. And playing basketball, as he has for three decades.
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