"This kid was designed to play basketball" - John Salley believes LeBron James could be Tom Brady of NBA at 45

Modified Nov 28, 2023 18:23 GMT

John Salley thinks LeBron James can play as long as Tom Brady did

LeBron James entered the NBA right out of high school when he was picked by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003. He has been playing at an exceptional level since entering the league. Even now, twenty years after joining the NBA, he remains a tremendous force on the court.

This season, he has played in all 17 games for the LA Lakers, averaging 25.1 points, 6.5 assists, and 7.5 rebounds per game.

One of the most impressive things that LeBron has done is maintain his dominance despite logging over 66,000 minutes in his career. He has passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for most minutes played.

One might expect someone with that much mileage to start declining rapidly at his age, but clearly, he is built differently. At least, this is what former NBA player John Salley thinks.

"This kid was designed to play basketball," Salley told Skip Bayless on Undisputed. "Its amazing, this is what he was bred to do, right? He came out, he got his body strong, he's smarter than everybody else."

"I think he can play maybe as long as Tom Brady, maybe until he's 45 years old because right now it looks like he's stronger than he's ever been. He looks better than he did when he was 28."

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For context, Tom Brady played for 23 seasons in the NFL, retired at the age of 45, and is widely considered to be one of the best quarterbacks of all time.

While we cannot predict when LeBron James will retire from the NBA, it would be an extraordinary feat if he could play until he was 45 years old. Fans who want to see LeBron stay in the league for this long can look forward to the fact that he might want to play until his sons enter the NBA.

Also read: "Don't mean much to me": LeBron James plays down breaking another Kareem Abdul-Jabbar record amid 44-point blowout loss.

LeBron James and the Lakers lost by 44 points to the 76ers

While he did break another record by becoming the player with the most minutes played in the NBA, LeBron and the Lakers were blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers 138-94.

Reigning MVP Joel Embiid dropped 30 points in a triple-double performance, while Tyrese Maxey exploded for 31 points and eight assists. The 76ers drained a total of 22 three-pointers on 46 attempts.

Meanwhile, no Lakers player scored more than 20 points, with their highest scorer being LeBron James with 18 points. The Lakers failed to get anything going all game and will look to bounce back in their next game against the Detroit Pistons.