LeBron James won the first game of his 21st NBA season Thursday night, as the Lakers beat the visiting Suns in the home opener for Los Angeles. James contributed 21 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in 35 minutes to lead the way for the Lakers.
One image in particular shows how spry James remains at age 38, despite playing the third-most minutes in NBA history over his career. The superstar forward was photographed jumping to deflect a Suns pass to Kevin Durant, and the veteran got way up in the air to get a piece of the ball.
Lakers’ LeBron James skies to deflect a pass to Suns’ Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/4xHXyA8m0w
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) October 27, 2023
Fans were amazed by the photo and James’s ability to jump so high at this point in his career.
I've been staring at this pic for the past hour asking myself how is this real. https://t.co/nq384yUWJH
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) October 27, 2023
Year 21 lmfao https://t.co/932vXXNN5W
— Ralph Mason (@Ralph_MasonJr) October 27, 2023
Year 21 https://t.co/YFifuaFipF
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) October 27, 2023
Sh** is crazy https://t.co/g0whvPZKRW
— AJ King (@allday_ajking) October 27, 2023
You’re gonna see a ton of “Year 21” and “Don’t take Lebron for granted” tweets from me this season. This is absurd https://t.co/EiVSaiS6at
— Michael Ball (@Mike_Ball423) October 27, 2023
Are you kidding me?! This is year 21. https://t.co/LYjVsdfDPC
— Noli Eala (@NoliEala) October 27, 2023
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham expressed his desire to limit James’s minutes early in the regular season in an attempt to keep the veteran fresh, but James already exceeded his limit in just the second game of the campaign. Even though James is the oldest player in the league, he clearly still possesses an elite skill set.
