There is no denying that LeBron James is in the twilight of his career. He will be playing in his 21st year when the 2023-24 season begins, and he is easily the league’s longest tenured player upon the retirement of Udonis Haslem.
Hood-Schifino Calls LeBron James “Old”
Lakers’ rookie Jalen Hood-Schifino called LeBron old
(via @mcten) pic.twitter.com/P16O2geO2r
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 27, 2023
But James is still performing at a ridiculously high level given his age. He averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists this past year, and brought his Lakers back from a 2-10 start to the season to 7-seed that no one wanted to play. They upset the Grizzlies and the Warriors before running out of gas in the Western Conference Finals, but the accomplishments of James and company were impressive nonetheless.
So how do you describe someone who is on the back end of a long and illustrious career but is still playing at a high-as-ever level Jalen Hood-Schifino was drafted by the Lakers last week, and he has already referred to LeBron James as “old”.
Every year, there are players that enter the league that have some kind of wild statistic related to James. There are now players in the NBA whose fathers LeBron played against, and other guys have never known an NBA without James in it.
Hood-Schifino came with his own LeBron-related tidbit. The now-rookie was only seven days old when James was drafted by the Cavaliers.
LeBron Drafted 7 Days After Hood-Schifino Was Born
Youngest Player in NBA History to average 30+ PPG in a Season:
— LeBron James (21)
Oldest Player in NBA History to average 30+ PPG in a Season:
— LeBron James (37)
One of the greatest Scorers the game has ever seen. pic.twitter.com/mszp2uoXZe
— LeBron Muse (@BronMuse) June 25, 2023
The 2003 NBA Draft took place on June 26th, while Hood-Schifino was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania a week earlier, on June 19th.
It is obviously all in fun. It wasn’t long ago that we heard another player in the league refer to James as old, though that was more in a trash talk sense that didn’t end up well for the player involved. The age difference between LeBron James and anyone who enters the league is going to be a wide gap, and the veteran will have to be accepting that he is by far the elder statesman.
Hood-Schifino was drafted with the 17th overall pick after playing his college days at Indiana. It is thought that he will be a replacement of sorts for Austin Reaves, who is likely to command big money on the open market. It will be a high-pressure situation, given the Lakers’ need to be in “win-now” mode, so the rookie will likely be thrown to the fire as soon as the upcoming season begins.
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