The NBA has never seen a player perform at the level LeBron James has achieved in his late thirties. Historically, players who continue competing at this age—especially those with star-caliber careers—struggle to maintain consistent, high-performance stats. This is largely limited to the true legends of the game, who can still contribute meaningfully.
To establish a benchmark, we’ve used Game Score as a measure of efficiency and performance, providing a snapshot of each game’s impact. Most players who performed well beyond 38—like Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, and Manu Ginobili—rarely exceeded a Game Score of 25. Typically, only Hall of Fame-level players sustain relevance this late in their careers, and even for them, it’s often challenging to perform at a consistent starting level.
LeBron’s achievements have put him in a unique category. He has already long surpassed Michael Jordan in the number of games with a Game Score over 30 from his 2nd comeback, which historically marks one of the best later years performances. The following list includes all 30+ Game Score performances by NBA players aged 38 and older—highlighting the best single-game performances ever delivered by “middle-aged” players.
Normally you would wonder if he had any noticeable regression over the summer, but the Olympics seemed to put that to bed. So far this season in 8 games LeBron has failed to cross the threshold of a 30+ game score, but he has been close in 3 of the 8 games and just has a 29.3 one last game while scoring 39 points. It’s only a matter of time it seems.
Age
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
Pts
Game Score
LeBron
39-319
12
14
1
0
35
31.6
Others
Age
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
Pts
Game Score
LeBron
39-312
7
6
1
0
39
29.3
LeBron
39-307
6
10
1
0
27
27.3
LeBron
39-301
14
10
0
1
32
27.1
LeBron’s extraordinary consistency, highlighted by multiple high-Game Score performances, emphasizes just how rare his output is among peers who played at a similar age. Since LeBron turned 38, he’s accumulated 20 games with a 30+ Game Score—exceeding Jordan’s count of eight, with Karl Malone close behind at five, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at four.
Age
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
Pts
Game Score
Malone
39-231
9
7
4
0
40
38.9
Crawford
39-020
5
5
1
1
51
37.9
Kareem
38-292
3
4
1
6
40
37.7
Jordan
40-004
10
3
4
1
43
36.8
Jordan
38-315
7
4
3
0
51
35.9
Jordan
38-317
10
7
3
0
45
35.7
Jordan
39-321
12
4
3
0
41
35.4
Kareem
38-337
5
8
2
3
34
34
Jordan
38-272
7
3
1
0
44
33.3
Kareem
38-334
7
3
2
1
43
33.1
Kareem
38-296
11
4
0
0
46
33.1
Malone
38-137
7
5
1
4
39
32.9
Parish
38-096
7
4
1
4
31
32.3
Jordan
38-343
4
7
2
0
41
32.1
Stockton
40-018
2
9
4
0
26
32
Jordan
39-349
3
6
1
1
45
31.9
Malone
39-196
6
8
4
2
31
31.9
Jordan
38-341
8
2
2
0
40
31.1
Duncan
38-300
11
3
1
1
30
30.9
Malone
39-107
11
7
3
1
27
30.6
Malone
38-203
14
6
5
2
34
30.5
Age
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
Pts
Game Score
LeBron
38-017
8
9
0
0
48
44.5
LeBron
38-025
8
7
2
1
46
42.5
LeBron
38-000
10
9
0
1
47
40.3
LeBron
38-358
7
7
2
2
40
39.4
LeBron
38-324
6
8
3
0
37
37.3
LeBron
39-077
8
9
1
1
40
36.7
LeBron
39-106
11
17
5
1
28
36.1
LeBron
39-028
20
12
0
0
36
35.1
LeBron
39-092
7
5
0
0
40
34.9
LeBron
38-003
11
6
1
0
43
34.7
LeBron
39-067
5
13
1
0
31
32.4
LeBron
38-016
8
10
1
1
35
32.2
LeBron
38-342
5
8
0
0
30
31.9
LeBron
38-029
9
8
0
0
41
31.5
LeBron
38-320
10
12
4
1
28
31.2
LeBron
38-340
8
11
5
0
31
31
LeBron
39-101
7
11
2
0
33
31
LeBron
38-306
12
7
1
2
35
30.6
LeBron
38-039
7
3
3
0
38
30.4
In the playoffs, LeBron also has thee 30+ Game Score games, which, to our knowledge, are the only playoff performances of this caliber by a player 38 or older:
Age
Reb
Ast
Stl
Blk
Pts
Game Score
LeBron
38-143
10
9
2
0
40
38.8
LeBron
38-133
9
9
2
1
30
31.9
LeBron
39-121
9
11
4
0
30
31.1
With LeBron approaching his 40th birthday, he’s poised to add to this record-setting pace. Given his current form, we might anticipate him achieving another 5+ thirty plus-Game Score games in the coming season. By the end of this season, LeBron should hold more 30+ Game Score games after age 38 than all other players in NBA history combined. It already stands at 19 for LeBron 21 for the field. If you include the three playoff games, which are more impressive, he already has more. There have only been 2 game scores over 30 after the age of 40, one each by Michael Jordan and John Stockton. The way Lebron looks he should blow by that number.
PER is adjusted to league average, and the league is much more efficient than it was when most of these other played late into their career. It’s pretty amazing the amount of shot making for LeBron at this age.
