In 2018-19, the last full NBA season, every team used at least 16 players, with the average team using 21. It’s impossible to know the Lakers’ eventual minutes-weighted age right now-not least because of the uncertain injury returns, and because we don’t yet know everyone who will suit up for the team. More broadly, dating back to 1951-52 (the first season for which Basketball-Reference features teamwide age information), the number of teams with an average age of 31 or higher is in the single digits: For those Jazz, 37-year-old Karl Malone, 38-year-old John Stockton, and 35-year-old John Starks all cleared 2,000 minutes apiece. For those Rockets, six of the top seven players in minutes were at least 34 years old, including future Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon (35), Clyde Drexler (35), and Charles Barkley (34). The oldest group on record is a tie, at an average age (weighted by minutes played) of 32.0, between the 1997-98 Rockets and 2000-01 Jazz. So much so that a more interesting question arises: Could these Lakers be the oldest team in NBA history? With James entering his age-37 season, the Lakers have chosen to surround him with similarly seasoned vets. But LeBron’s take on the takes is beside the point. I’m not just saying that.”Ī since-deleted August tweet might suggest differently. “The narrative about our age,” LeBron said last week, “I kind of laugh at it. Or so he says, anyway, when it comes to the jokes about his Lakers’ revamped roster.
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