The NBA is in an age of outliers for aging superstars. Injuries are as persistent as ever, yet the league is loaded with big names staying relevant deep into their 30s and, in one case, beyond. The 2024 Olympics was supposed to be the swan song for LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. Instead, they are leading teams with a combined 27-10 record. Here is how the nine former All-NBA players in their age-36 season or later stack up.
Curry, 38, is the baseline at zero. Injuries aside, he has been closer to his peak than anyone on this list when on the court. Even after leaving Wednesday's loss to Houston after five minutes, he is averaging more than a point per minute with a higher effective field goal percentage than his unanimous MVP season of 2016 and a career-low turnover rate.
Paul George, 36, rates a one. The minutes and free throws are down, but per minute he is outscoring, outrebounding and outassisting the version that last made an All-Star team in 2024. Only Dyson Daniels and Scottie Barnes average more deflections per game among players with more than two appearances, and Boston has gone from the second-fewest turnovers per game last season to the seventh-most.
Kevin Durant, 38, checks in at two. He is taking 13.2 shots per game, by far the fewest of his career, but nobody in Houston is complaining: five Rockets take double-digit shots and the offense ranks third in the league, with Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith playing the best basketball of their careers. Durant is not shooting to his usual standards, though, and a career-high free-throw rate may not sustain.
Damian Lillard, 36, also earns a two. The early returns in Portland from his torn Achilles are positive: he is scoring at roughly his Milwaukee per-minute rate, and the 33.3% mark from three undersells him given the tiny sample and huge volume. A preposterous 62% of his shots are threes in a support role beside Deni Avdija, and Box Plus-Minus rates him a top-20 offensive player.
Draymond Green, 36, lands at four. Of the 133 players averaging at least 26 minutes, his 3.2 points per game are less than half anyone else's; Myles Turner, 132nd, averages 6.7. Golden State never asked him to score, and his passing, offensive rebounding and defense remain elite. But with Curry out for weeks, his 28 minutes without him have gone badly.
LeBron James, 41, sits at five. The slide from his legendary peak is real, but he has landed on his feet in season 24: driving less, padding his scoring in transition and connecting a Philadelphia roster full of ball-handlers. His poor shooting, especially from three, stings with Joel Embiid declining there too. He is a role player now, a uniquely valuable one, but a role player.
Klay Thompson, 36, is also a five. Miami ranks 23rd in 3-point percentage despite his 40%-plus shooting on nine-plus attempts a night, with Andrew Wiggins and Tim Hardaway Jr. struggling around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. The trade-off is defense: opponents score 1.278 points per isolation possession against him, per Synergy Sports, and the Heat are average defensively when he sits, terrible when he plays.
James Harden, 37, and DeMar DeRozan, 37, anchor the meter at eight apiece. Cleveland has been 19 points per 100 possessions better with Harden off the floor, and before Wednesday's win over New York, every rotation member had a worse net rating with him on it. His 32-point outburst against the Knicks offered hope, but the rim pressure that fueled his passing is mostly gone, and he admitted he barely played pickup over the summer. DeRozan is shooting 39% from mid-range, his worst in more than a decade, and Denver is being crushed in his minutes with or without Nikola Jokic, yet thin ball-handling behind Jokic and Jamal Murray forces the Nuggets to keep playing him.
