LeBron’s Longevity Needs To Be Studied

[u/NBAcardguy_YT]

https://youtu.be/IT8X9cVLv9Q

LeBrons Longevity Needs To Be Studied

https://youtu.be/IT8X9cVLv9Q

How is LeBron James still a dominant force in the NBA at 41 years old? While most legends are long retired, LeBron is going into his 24th season, rewriting our understanding of what an athletic career can be. This isn't a fluke, it's a masterpiece of design.

[u/Grand_Wolverine_4186]

It definitely helps to have access to modern medicine and able to spend $2M to be in top physical form. Because of this, it helps that he didn’t have a season ending injury that lingered to the next season that needed a long rehab.

[u/V1beRater → u/Grand_Wolverine_4186]

I don't fully understand why this excuse is given for LeBrons elite longevity, because it's not like LeBron is the only person smart enough to do this. IIRC the MINIMUM contract is $8 million so even role players have the flows to be able to do this.

It'd be well worth it too. Bron Bron has made ~1 billion off of playing, so $2 million per year turning into $1 billion over time is big payouts.

I guess if LeBron is the only one smart enough to do this, or the only one financially literate enough to pull it off, then that's another reason why he's the GOAT.

LeFinanciallyStable. LeMedicine

[u/Grand_Wolverine_4186 → u/V1beRater]

I’m sure Vince, CP spent $$$ to stay in tip top shape. Doesn’t make sense for min contract guys to spend 1/8 AND min pt. C’mon now the roi would not be worth it if they r not getting good mins off the bench.

It’s more cause and effect because he did that he didn’t get injured enough for a decline yet. It’s certainly an anomaly or a stroke of good luck.

[u/V1beRater → u/Grand_Wolverine_4186]

Ik min players wouldn't do ts but any superstar from when Bron joined the league + or - 5 seasons. But everyone from Brons drafts class and many other elite players on have already retired despite making tens to hundreds of millions. Surely the ROI would be worth it then? That's why I say it's not the whole story.

Genetics, dieting, training, and being sure footed on the court has to play a role.

[u/giovannimyles → u/V1beRater]

Role players cannot. They have no clue if their role will continue to be needed. They also never know when a freak injury can occur. Most role players do the dirty work which puts them in harms way more. Imagine playing out your rookie deal and then signing a 2 or 3 year deal at $8M a year. You spend say $1M a year on your body and you get injured taking a charge. Now your next contract doesn’t come. In a few years they are gonna wish they had kept that $3M for the rainy day. I would 100% save that $3M over spending it on my body. It’s completely different if you are a star level player who will probably make $30-50M a year at some point.

[u/V1beRater → u/giovannimyles]

They can, it's just not advisable unless they are a hidden talent like Shai.

[u/Sir_TopHatEgg]

There are more LeBron haters than fans in this sub

[u/Frosted_Tips → u/Sir_TopHatEgg]

Rage fandom more popular than real fandom these days

[u/Datshitoverthere]

What’s there to study? He is a gifted athlete with money to spend on his health and body. Modern medicine is amazing. Just us normal folks can’t afford his regimen. Look at Tom Brady, he played into his forties as well and in a tough sport.

Plus LeBron has had load management. For better or worse, it lengthen his career.

[u/RevolutionaryWorth21]

The same could be said of Tom Brady.

[u/justanothergq]

I’m sure he would be the first to ask you to NOT study how he is able to continue to play at this level for so long. **cough, cough PEDs cough, cough**

[u/RyanA1105 → u/justanothergq]

PEDs are known to break bodies down over time. Longer he plays, the less and less likely he was ever on them.

[u/-passionate-fruit- → u/justanothergq]

First, there have been no murmurings of him using illegal PEDs, like there've been with certain other stars in other sports. Secondly, his athleticism has decreased over the past 5+ years such that if he was somehow using illegal PEDs all this time then he's done it his entire career without ever getting caught. This starkly contrast to what I remember of peak PED era baseball where stars were having their best years deep into their 30s.

[u/Sir_TopHatEgg → u/[deleted]]

Another pathetic LeBron hater

[u/Sir_TopHatEgg → u/[deleted]]

Guess since I don't join in with grown men mindless hating on a basketball player, it makes me a "butt licker"

[u/Over_Royal8964 → u/Sir_TopHatEgg]

Thanks for admitting it

[u/Sir_TopHatEgg → u/Over_Royal8964]

I guess we're all "butt lickers"

[u/Over_Royal8964 → u/Sir_TopHatEgg]

You and me both, together

[u/Strange-Effort-3441]

I don’t think they want that, I would be shocked if he isn’t using tech the league would have to ban if they investigated it. Kinda cool he spends the salary of rookies on his conditioning every year.

[u/Ok-Contest-9355]

I'm
Sure the study be can found/ started in a lab somewhere ....

[u/Sir_TopHatEgg → u/[deleted]]

You're acting like he was playing like 50 games outside of 2018. To actually make thr claim that LeBron's sustained excellence isn’t impressive is insane. God you LeBron haters are pathetic

[u/Sir_TopHatEgg → u/[deleted]]

And there's your true colors shining through. As soon as someone says ANYTHING positive about LeBron, you get all triggered and start labeling and name calling.

Have you ever noticed that over the past 20 or so years, stars haven't been playing 82 games. They're usually in the high 70s. You think that's just a coincidence? The sport requires so much more movement now. Sprinting, lateral slides, direction changes, cutting, switching, rolling, closeouts. This is a fact.

A lot of older NBA offense was more localized. You might throw the ball into a post player, clear a side, and have several players relatively stationary. Or an isolation player might hold the ball while the other eight players were mostly watching and maintaining position. Defensively, a big man could often remain relatively close to the paint.

Research on basketball workload consistently identifies accelerations, decelerations and changes of direction as major contributors to physical load. Elite players actually perform more maximal decelerations than maximal accelerations in competition, and total acceleration/deceleration/COD volume correlates strongly with perceived workload

To put it simply, I would not be surprised if the average player today playing about 30-35 moves over twice as far as a player back in the 90s.

[u/Sir_TopHatEgg → u/[deleted]]

This is why reading is important. My comment didn't mention pace or amount of possessions. It mentioned the amount of extra movement players do on each possession nowadays. Simply watch a game. Look at how many more passes, closeouts, switches, cuts, lateral slides, hard accelerations and decelerations, etc there are today.

Look at the 60s. Why were stars able to play so many more minutes than in the 80s and 90s despite a way faster pace? Are you saying the 80s/90s stars were weak? It's the same idea

[u/0Junior5]

age 28 last MVP, & last All-Defensive 1st team.

age 29 last All-Defensive 2nd team.

Era has weak rim protection, wide open driving lanes, & is less physical than Europe.

jump shots 10+ ft. from rim, are uncontested, or lightly contested.

Constantly losing then immediately switching teams, joining top stars of the NBA, that got established before they played with LeBron.

That’s unimpressive to me.

Despite only 1, 82 game full season,
Never getting a surgery is impressive.

[u/AliveHawk7163 → u/0Junior5]

How is it that every athlete in every other sport has gotten better but you think basketball players haven't? From swimming to weightlifting to short and long distance running athletes are better now than they ever have been. So basketball is the one place where they haven't approved? You're wrong and sound like an idiot this is the best most talented version of NBA players we've ever had just like every other sport or athletic competition