Regardless of whether you consider him the GOAT or a distant second to Michael Jordan, LeBron James is aging like no player we’ve ever seen before, celebrating his 38th trip around the sun, not with cake and ice cream, but with a statement. The birthday boy threw a party but apparently Father Time wasn’t on the invite list, exploding for 47 points—his most since a 50-point outburst in March—on dominant 18-of-27 shooting against Atlanta. James also contributed 10 boards and nine assists, finishing just shy of what would have been his 106th triple-double.
It's been a struggle for the Lakers this year, dropping five of seven since losing Anthony Davis to a foot injury on December 16th. But the Lakers, powered by a herculean performance from James, wouldn’t be denied Friday night, sending the struggling Hawks to their third straight defeat. James pulled out all the stops for this one, going nuclear with 29 points in the second half, none prettier than his driving layup with 2:18 remaining, somehow finishing in traffic while absorbing contact from John Collins.
What LeBron is doing, at an age when most hoops stars are either transitioning to a post-playing career in broadcasting or coaching their kid’s travel team, is remarkable, bordering on unprecedented. In fact, according to ESPN’s resident stat-crunchers, James joins Jordan, Jamal Crawford and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who LeBron will soon pass as the NBA’s all-time scoring leader) as one of just four players 38 or older to reach 40 points. Two decades into what will surely go down as one of the most celebrated careers in league history, James is scoring at a clip of 28.5 points per game, significantly outperforming the likes of MJ and Kareem, who averaged 22.9 and 23.4 respectively during their age-38 seasons.
It's maddening to see James waste his talent on a team barreling toward another sub-.500 finish (among Western Conference teams, only Houston and San Antonio have a worse record), though, as he emphatically displayed Friday night, the Lakers’ elder statesmen is still a force to be a reckoned with, a bruising, hurricane of a player who won’t be ceding his throne to the next generation anytime soon.
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