There are a handful of professional athletes that have, at one point in their career, reached a point in which they had officially spent half of their life as an active player of their respective sport. Not all of them are as famous as the most recent entrant, though.
Among the prominent examples of this group are NHL legend Gordie Howe, who played from age 18 to age 42 with Detroit, and then switched over to the World Hockey Association for the next chunk of his career. You've got Kobe Bryant, for instance, whose first 6,647 days of his life were spent as a non-NBA player... and whose next 7,101 were spent as an NBA player. There's legendary quarterback George Blanda, who quarterbacked and kicked his way through 26 seasons. Hall of Fame outfielder Rickey Henderson swiped bags like nobody else from age 20 to age 44 on the baseball diamond.
And, as of December 20, 2021, a new member of the club has emerged.
LeBron responded to Klopfer's tweet with the same reaction as many fans who read the incredible statistic, and a longtime teammate pitched in as well.
It really is wild, when you think about it. Who knows who the next athlete to join him will be, though Tom Brady only needs to play until he's around 47 or so to say that he's officially been an NFL player for half of his life. Even after a poor showing against the Saints, he's still leading the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns... at age 44... and seemingly without slowing down at all.
And speaking of playing at a high level at an old age, the almost-37 James is averaging 25.9 points, 6.8 assists and 6.6 rebounds per game while playing the second most minutes per game (37.2) in the entire league. Yeah.
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