Lost in the shuffle of Thursday night’s showdown of MVPs and superstars between the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks was a reunion of Lakers star LeBron James and Milwaukee Bucks reserve guard Kyle Korver.
James and Korver were teammates for nearly two seasons on the Cavaliers, with both of their postseasons together ending in trips to the NBA Finals. He was also a teammate of LeBron’s during the one season he played in all 82 games. With the topic of whether he should rest more games being that he will turn 35 in 10 days, Korver believes that the rules are just different for James as they have been for 42-year old Vince Carter, who is still playing in the league. Korver sees LeBron being able to dunk well into his retirement, whenever that is, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
“In his mind, playing every game, playing those minutes, he wanted to give Cleveland everything he had just in case (he left as a free agent),” Korver said. “Last year, I just think there was the frustration of not winning, and I think that wore on him more than anything. He is unbelievable, his ability to recover. I don’t know when he chooses to stop playing, how old he is, I feel like he still has a bunch of good years at this level. At some point you get older and your body doesn’t recover quite as fast as you want it to. But he’s still going to be dunking a basketball when he’s 70. He’s like Vince Carter in that way. They are going to be able to jump and dunk as long as they’re alive.”
Despite last night’s loss and the Lakers losing consecutive games for the first time this season, it’s indisputable that James is having the best season we’ve ever seen from someone in their 17th NBA season.