Tom Brady and LeBron James are both doing things in their careers right now that you’d never believe anybody could do at their respective ages.
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LeBron just turned 37 recently and Brady is 44 years old. Yet, both athletes are in conversation for being the best in their respective sports at the moment. It’s bizzare, unprecedented, and simply incredible. LeBron is literally carrying the Lakers at the moment as they try to stay competitive in a Western Conference many believed was theirs to lose after acquiring Russell Westbrook.
Tom Brady has been equally impressive for the Buccaneers all season long. He leads the NFL in passing yards, passing touchdowns, and completions (along with a number of other stats) while guiding the Buccaneers to the second seed in the NFC.
Alvin Gentry, head coach of the Sacramento Kings, has noticed the similarities and admitted as much recently after the Lakers beat his team 122-114.
Alvin Gentry compares LeBron James’ season to Tom Brady
When it comes to longevity and durability in the NFL and NBA, there are no better examples than Tom Brady and LeBron James. The fact that their presence on a team is enough to command respect and fear, no matter how good or bad the team may be, this late in their careers speaks to how consistent they’ve been.
LeBron is currently second in the league in scoring at 28.6 points per game (only behind Kevin Durant at 30 ppg) while also averaging 7.4 rebounds per game, 6.5 assists per game and shooting 52% from the field and 37% from three (the third best mark of his career).
Similarly, Brady is averaging a league high 311.9 yards per game (second most of his career), has a league high 40 touchdowns (only the third time he’s done that with the last time being last year) on a 66.9% completion percentage (third best mark of his career).
Knowing how well Brady has been doing, Gentry found the perfect comparison for LeBron after he dropped 31, 5, and 5 on his team.
“The fact that he’s doing what he’s doing, at the age that he is, is phenomenal, really,” Gentry detailed. “You can only compare it to Tom Brady, maybe, something like that.”
“First of all, it doesn’t matter if he’s at 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 6, 7, 8 — it doesn’t matter,” he continued. “Obviously, he’s playing at such a high level right now. “… When he’s playing the 5 position, it just creates a lot of matchup problems. You want to play small, but he’s not a small, so him playing center is not a stretch by any stretch of the imagination. You’ve just got to do the best you can and play really solid team defense to help in that situation.”
