I mean look at how good pierce duncan kg and kobe as they have progressed into their mid 30s and none of em even came close to labrons peak. I think by age 35 the only ppl with equity to be better are durant and wiggins. Everybody else is drawing pretty slim until he turns 36/37/38 id say and it wouldnt be horribly surprising if he still was like top 3 or 4 at age 37

Brow has equity too

Yeah youre right forgot about brow. BROW.

And some guys that are like 14-15 years old that we have never heard of have equity. But Lebron could be top 5 past 35 too.

Don't think any unknowns have a chance within the next 5 years. Rookies and sophomores are just never that good. 37yo Bron will certainly be better than any 23 year olds.

Doesn't Wiggins have some equity (very small at this point)? Not sure of any other absolute studs coming through the pipe.

I would guess Harden has little equity due to his size?

i keep seeing you guys mention Harden. who exactly are you referring to?

James Harden.

I think its possible that Lebron ages insanely well. He is a physical freak and sports medicine is getting better and better. His size, skill level, and passing ability will allow him to excel even when his speed and jumping ability are diminished. Plus I think he might legit try to ring chase in his later years. Like if he hits 40 and has 7 titles then why not stick around and try to catch Russell by forming more super teams for your 40s?

U may know him by his superhero persona "the beard"

when it comes to NBA i'm certainly a casual fan and am happy to admit it.

but does James Harden really have a chance in hell of ever being the best player in the association?

*Shrug* you're having a really hard time understanding variance, and having a really hard time understanding that we can only go by the sample(s) we have—we will never know how good a player *actually* is; we can only say with 'X' amount of confidence that he will play at 'Y' level of production.

In the case of the player who was a 100 ppg scorer for a month, we gain a larger usable (i.e. not old, injured, etc.) sample size for which to inform our decision if he performs at a 15/4/4 level for the surrounding ten years. It more accurately informs us of how good he *actually* is. Now, in Jordan's case (since it isn't a hypothetical) we cannot do this. We have no other samples to work with. However, we can imagine (just like the 100 ppg scorer) that he just ran insanely hot for his entire career. This is an astronomically unlikely event, but not necessarily more so than a 15 ppg scorer who scored back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back 100 point games on 75/60/99 shooting.

It just depends how good some of the classes will be coming up. Right now the NBA has an excellent crop of < 25 year olds. NBA has <25 y.o.a players that rank as well as durant, RWD, harden, kyrie, rose.

9 different draft classes will come thru by the time lebron is 37. Assuming a player will have to be atleast 22 to be >/= 37 y.o. Lebron. Another 6-10 players that are as good as some of the players listed above will have entered the league and beginning their prime.

i would say it's awful small but he's a very young and talented SG who is extremely efficient (easily a top 5 asset). with that being said, his D is weak and he's undersized. i would say the chances of him being the best player ITL for 1 year are pretty slim but slim is better than zero.

i think at some point rose and kyrie had a non zero shot but both are pretty much shot due to injury issue and slight flatlining/overrating. brow probably has a chance but he's extremely skinny and injury prone. i think KD and maybe Wiggins have some equity.

Harden is not undersized, his standing reach is on par with league average

i thought the question will harden be better than a 37 y.o lebron? Thats close as well.

interesting. so do players like Westbrook and Curry have no shot? honest question.

well mid 30's has somehow been narrowed down to 37 years old. i don't know what's going on itt

rwb if he stopped chucking, maybe. but with his injury and lack of improvement over the last couple of years--i'd say doubtful. it's really doubtful if he becomes better than KD much less KD/LBJ/others.

curry could be the best offensive player in the league but has little chance to be the best player ITL, b/c of his size and D.

Hmm. There's a gap to be sure but I don't think it is "really big" going forward in particular. Durant is 24 and already clearly better than everyone not named LeBron James. He's not peaked yet and there isn't much room to grow towards other than LeBron level of dominance. Seems reasonable to project Durant as the best player itl over the next 5 years; next 2 almost certainly LeBron. And I fully expect Durant vs MJ GOAT discussion thread in 5 years.

You're severely underrating James

Why do I keep hearing LeBron goes back to Cleveland? Is there actually something behind this or is it a joke/meme?

thanks

How's that? Saying Durant at 27 could be the best player itl and 31 y/o LeBron second best hardly seems like an absurd belief. Almost nobody in basketball peaks at 24, Durant can improve quite a bit from here. He's already in his own tier at #2.

As good as KD is he has some severe flaws in his game. His real strengths are on the offensive side of the ball but his ball handling is much weaker than LBJ and so is his passing. KD's shooting is much better though although I hope they outlaw his stupid foul move. KD would have to become like the best offensive player maybe ever to overcome the fact that Lebron is so much better on D than KD. While KD is an above average defender, Lebron is pretty damn elite (I'd say top 3). I can't see KD improving a ridiculous amount at this point in his career on D especially since he can't bulk up very much.

The only thing that really gives KD a shot to pass LBJ is if Lebron has some serious leg injury.

While KD's TS% is insanely high and his PER is close to Lebron's, things that PER either ignores or underrates, LBJ is much better than KD like D, ball handling are going to be pretty hard to bridge the gap.