LeBron James is 40, playing his 23rd season in the NBA. Kevin Durant is 37, as is Stephen Curry. And all these former NBA champions have a few years ahead of them at the very least. But will they be good years?
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Well, LeBron seems to have adjusted his game to accommodate a young Lakers team led by Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Durant is playing the role of Master Shifu on the Rockets, and Curry, well, he might still be scoring buckets, but those injuries are recurring more than ever before.
The fitness levels in the league are higher than ever, which has forced older players to physically keep up in ways they never had to before. LeBron, Durant, and Curry are elite athletes, and they are barely keeping pace, so what hope do the average players in the league have?
As Boston Celtics star Derrick White pointed out, “If I play till 40, I think I wouldn’t be able to move by 50!” When Jaylen Brown pushed him to reveal how much time he had left, White said that three years after this season (he will be 35 by then), he plans to call it a day.
Upon further discussion, he stressed that 40 was out of the question for him, but if he could stretch it, the Celtics star might push it as far as 37-38.
It takes a rare amount of honesty for a professional athlete to admit the finite nature of his own career. So it was only natural that when Brown was asked to return the favor, he would do so… gracefully.
But the 29-year-old Celtics star went with the classic, “I don’t know!” only to be met with “it’s a cop out,” by White Noise cohost Alex Welsh.
“You ask me today, I am like 34, 35. That’s like 5 years from now, which is crazy. That’s crazy. But things can change,” Brown further added.
“I am at 10 [NBA seasons] right now. So if I get to 34, that would be 15. 34-35 is still not that old. You can still play at a high level at that age. So we will just take it one day at a time,” he went on to explain.
“It’s been a blessing to play 10 [years]. So we will just take it one day at a time. But if you ask me right now, if you want to play till 40? Absolutely not! Obviously, contractual situations could change that. Money talks is what they say,” he added with a chuckle.
Fifteen years at the highest level in professional sport takes an insane toll on one’s body. So if Brown wants to call it quits when he crosses that line, one can only hope he does so fully healthy, with no long-term consequences.
Besides, top basketball players can still rake in millions after their athletic careers are over, so someone as articulate as Brown shouldn’t have any problem transitioning to a suit.
