5 WILT CHAMBERLAIN, C, Los Angeles Lakers
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 5. Wilt Chamberlain, 1971-72 (35)
For all of the historical criticism Wilt Chamberlain receives for his attitude or the pace-inflated nature of his statistics, the biggest knock on Chamberlain will always be that he could not translate pure athletic dominance into more titles. Coming into the 1971-72 season, Chamberlain had won just one title. Despite numerous trips to the NBA Finals, his teammate on the Lakers Jerry West had been denied, often by Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics, each time.
Something changed in 1971-72, when the Lakers finally coalesced as an offensive juggernaut. Players slid into their roles perfectly, and under the direction of head coach Bill Sharman the Lakers ripped off 33 wins in a row – still the NBA record – and finished with a 69-13 record.
Chamberlain’s days of scoring 50 per game were well behind him, but he fit into his role on this Lakers team perfectly. “The Big Dipper” scored 14.8 points per game, leading the league in field goal percentage, and pulled down 19.2 rebounds per game. Chamberlain finished second in win shares, tops in defensive win shares, and was the anchor on a defense tied for first in the league.
There was no doubt in the postseason that this Lakers’ team was different, as they swept the Chicago Bulls in the first round and defeated league MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then going by Lew Alcindor) and the Milwaukee Bucks in six. In the NBA Finals, the Lakers took on the New York Knicks, lead by Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and won in five.
Chamberlain took home Finals MVP for his work in that series, averaging an absurd 23.2 rebounds per game and sitting for just four total minutes in the entire series. It may have happened with Bill Russell retired, but West, Chamberlain and the Lakers finally broke through with a magical season that ended in an NBA championship.
4 KARL MALONE, PF, Utah Jazz
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 4. Karl Malone, 1998-99 (35)
65 MVP awards have been given out in the history of the NBA as of February 2021, and the youngest to ever hoist the trophy was Wes Unseld of the Baltimore Bullets in 1968-69, just 22 years old. On the other end of the spectrum, only twice has a player been 35 or older when he received MVP honors, the oldest being Karl Malone in 1998-99.
The lockout-shortened season was bizarre on many levels, from 50 games crammed into a half-season’s worth of days, to the immense power vacuum left by the breaking up of the dynastic Chicago Bulls. One player seemingly unaffected by the strangeness was Karl Malone, who continued to dominate opposing defenses en route to his second MVP award.
Malone at 35 dropped in 23.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, leading the league in made free throws. Malone was third in total points behind Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson. In a battle of the bigs O’Neal, Malone, Tim Duncan and Alonzo Mourning all vied for the top spot in most advanced metrics. Malone finished second in BPM and first in win shares.
The Jazz won a whopping 37 of their 50 games, a 61-win pace in the lockout season. In the playoffs Malone and the Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round and fell to the Portland Trail Blazers in the second, where Scottie Pippen had migrated after the breaking of the Bulls.
Malone won the Most Valuable Player award that season, gaining 44 of the 118 first-place votes – just 37.2 percent. In one of the most closely contested MVP votes in NBA history, Malone just beat out Mourning (773 points) and Duncan (740) by winning 827 points. For a player who never broke through to win a championship trophy, two MVP awards sound about right for one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history.
3 LEBRON JAMES, SF, Los Angeles Lakers
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 3. LeBron James. 2019-20 (35)
The question of who is the greatest player in the history of the NBA is an engrossing, entertaining, and perhaps unsolvable debate. This list is not the place to try and settle such a debate. What it can highlight, however, is that LeBron James looks like he will blow away Michael Jordan’s accomplishments at ages 36 and up. For the best age-35 season specifically, however, James falls two spots shy of Jordan.
That is not to take away anything from James’ accomplishments in the 2019-20 season, as he achieved excellence in the midst of chaos and sorrow. From the passing of Kobe Bryant to the pandemic to conversations about racial injustice, the struggle off-the-court makes LeBron James’ on-the-court success even more impressive.
In his 17th season in the league, James dropped 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and a league-leading 10.2 assists per game. The only other player to average double-digit assists at age 35 or older was Steve Nash. As a 6-9 point forward James orchestrated the Lakers’ offense en route to the best record in the Western Conference, 52 wins in 71 games.
In the NBA Bubble in Orlando, FL the Lakers, led by James, steamrolled through their first three opponents and overcame an injured Miami Heat team in the Finals. Over the course of 21 playoff games he put up 27.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists. The Lakers were a +18 per 100 possessions with James on the court.
James finished second to Giannis Antetokounmpo in MVP voting, was an All-NBA first-team selection and ultimately won Finals MVP. For the ninth time in 10 years, he led his team to the NBA Finals, becoming the first player to win Finals MVP for three different franchises. He also provided leadership not just to his team but to an entire league as they mourned, wrestled and simply survived their way through 2020.
Even at 35, LeBron James made sure everyone knew he was still the best player, the face and the voice of the league.
2 TIM DUNCAN, PF, San Antonio Spurs
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 2. Tim Duncan, 2013-14 (37)
In 1996-97, a David Robinson injury sent the San Antonio Spurs spiraling into a lost season and the first overall pick, which they used to select Tim Duncan. Since then, the Spurs won at least 50 games (or their lockout-equivalent) for 20 straight seasons. That level of sustained success, peaked with five titles, is unheard of in modern sports.
There were many people who contributed to that success, but at the center of it all was Tim Duncan. The steady power forward contributed innumerable bank shots, blocked shots and bugged-out eyeballs protesting foul calls, playing 1392 regular-season games and over 47,000 minutes for the franchise.
While he hit the ground running and won two MVPs in his first five seasons, the peak of his late career was the 2013-14 season. Even at age 37, he was still a powerful force inside for the Spurs. He averaged 15.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks that year, steady as she goes. Even playing less than 30 minutes per game Duncan finished fifth in blocks and fourteenth in rebounds.
Advanced stats highlight his per-minute impact. Duncan was top-10 in defensive rebound percentage, block percentage, and defensive win shares. His defensive rating of 97.6 was fourth in the league. Duncan manned the middle of the league’s third-best defense, and the Spurs finished 62-20, the best record in the entire league.
Duncan only increased his impact in the postseason. He increased his playing time to 32.7 minutes per game, scoring 16.3 points and 9.2 rebounds. He totaled 3.2 win shares over a 23-game run that saw the Spurs take down the Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder on their path to the NBA Finals.
In the Finals, they faced the two-time defending champion Miami Heat. The Spurs absolutely crushed LeBron James and the Heat in five games, outscoring the Heat by 75 in those five games and holding them under 100 points all five games. Duncan was not only defensively dominant, but at the end his team won it all. Not bad for 38.
1 MICHAEL JORDAN, SG, Chicago Bulls
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 1. Michael Jordan, 1997-98 (35)
His Airness, Mike, Air Jordan, The GOAT, Michael Jordan himself would top many lists of NBA historical accolades. He has won the most Finals MVP awards, is the greatest guard of all time and probably would win a poll of the greatest player of all time, even if there is a worthy debate between he and LeBron James. Yet again, Jordan tops another list, this time for the greatest season by a player 35 years or older in NBA history.
The 1997-98 season was one of titans, with four different teams winning at least 60 games. That included the Chicago Bulls, tied with the Utah Jazz at 62 to lead the league. Those two teams would meet in the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year come June. Prior to that, Jordan turned 35 in the midst of one of the greatest seasons of his career.
After earning the MVP award the year before and losing to Karl Malone likely on the back of voter fatigue, Jordan came out of the gates and showed the league he wanted his trophy back. He once again led the league in scoring at 28.7 points per game, also topping the league in usage percentage. Even with the team around him in a state of flux for much of the year — see the documentary The Last Dance for more — he willed his team to the best record.
Interestingly enough, Karl Malone finished ahead of Jordan in many advanced metrics such as win shares and box plus/minus, albeit barely. Yet Jordan easily eclipsed the value of Malone of anyone else in the league by willing the Bulls through the postseason. On the last play of his Bulls career, he sized up Byron Russell and hit one of the most famous shots in the history of the league.
At 35, Jordan dominated a league that still recognized him as the greatest, that still worshipped him as the greatest to ever play. They were in awe of him even as they tried to beat him. Yet again, for the sixth time, no one could when it mattered. Despite all that came after, the second retirement and the empty calorie scoring in Washington, this season was Jordan truly going out on top.
It is fitting that Michael Jordan reigns supreme on this list as well, with the greatest season by a player 35 years or older. He is joined by so many of the greatest players in NBA history, perhaps as many as six or seven of the ten best players of all time. Competing against every team in the league as well as Father Time is a tall task, but some players did it and created greatness in the process.
5 WILT CHAMBERLAIN, C, Los Angeles Lakers
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 5. Wilt Chamberlain, 1971-72 (35)
For all of the historical criticism Wilt Chamberlain receives for his attitude or the pace-inflated nature of his statistics, the biggest knock on Chamberlain will always be that he could not translate pure athletic dominance into more titles. Coming into the 1971-72 season, Chamberlain had won just one title. Despite numerous trips to the NBA Finals, his teammate on the Lakers Jerry West had been denied, often by Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics, each time.
Something changed in 1971-72, when the Lakers finally coalesced as an offensive juggernaut. Players slid into their roles perfectly, and under the direction of head coach Bill Sharman the Lakers ripped off 33 wins in a row – still the NBA record – and finished with a 69-13 record.
Chamberlain’s days of scoring 50 per game were well behind him, but he fit into his role on this Lakers team perfectly. “The Big Dipper” scored 14.8 points per game, leading the league in field goal percentage, and pulled down 19.2 rebounds per game. Chamberlain finished second in win shares, tops in defensive win shares, and was the anchor on a defense tied for first in the league.
There was no doubt in the postseason that this Lakers’ team was different, as they swept the Chicago Bulls in the first round and defeated league MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then going by Lew Alcindor) and the Milwaukee Bucks in six. In the NBA Finals, the Lakers took on the New York Knicks, lead by Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and won in five.
Chamberlain took home Finals MVP for his work in that series, averaging an absurd 23.2 rebounds per game and sitting for just four total minutes in the entire series. It may have happened with Bill Russell retired, but West, Chamberlain and the Lakers finally broke through with a magical season that ended in an NBA championship.
4 KARL MALONE, PF, Utah Jazz
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 4. Karl Malone, 1998-99 (35)
65 MVP awards have been given out in the history of the NBA as of February 2021, and the youngest to ever hoist the trophy was Wes Unseld of the Baltimore Bullets in 1968-69, just 22 years old. On the other end of the spectrum, only twice has a player been 35 or older when he received MVP honors, the oldest being Karl Malone in 1998-99.
The lockout-shortened season was bizarre on many levels, from 50 games crammed into a half-season’s worth of days, to the immense power vacuum left by the breaking up of the dynastic Chicago Bulls. One player seemingly unaffected by the strangeness was Karl Malone, who continued to dominate opposing defenses en route to his second MVP award.
Malone at 35 dropped in 23.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, leading the league in made free throws. Malone was third in total points behind Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson. In a battle of the bigs O’Neal, Malone, Tim Duncan and Alonzo Mourning all vied for the top spot in most advanced metrics. Malone finished second in BPM and first in win shares.
The Jazz won a whopping 37 of their 50 games, a 61-win pace in the lockout season. In the playoffs Malone and the Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round and fell to the Portland Trail Blazers in the second, where Scottie Pippen had migrated after the breaking of the Bulls.
Malone won the Most Valuable Player award that season, gaining 44 of the 118 first-place votes – just 37.2 percent. In one of the most closely contested MVP votes in NBA history, Malone just beat out Mourning (773 points) and Duncan (740) by winning 827 points. For a player who never broke through to win a championship trophy, two MVP awards sound about right for one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history.
3 LEBRON JAMES, SF, Los Angeles Lakers
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 3. LeBron James. 2019-20 (35)
The question of who is the greatest player in the history of the NBA is an engrossing, entertaining, and perhaps unsolvable debate. This list is not the place to try and settle such a debate. What it can highlight, however, is that LeBron James looks like he will blow away Michael Jordan’s accomplishments at ages 36 and up. For the best age-35 season specifically, however, James falls two spots shy of Jordan.
That is not to take away anything from James’ accomplishments in the 2019-20 season, as he achieved excellence in the midst of chaos and sorrow. From the passing of Kobe Bryant to the pandemic to conversations about racial injustice, the struggle off-the-court makes LeBron James’ on-the-court success even more impressive.
In his 17th season in the league, James dropped 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and a league-leading 10.2 assists per game. The only other player to average double-digit assists at age 35 or older was Steve Nash. As a 6-9 point forward James orchestrated the Lakers’ offense en route to the best record in the Western Conference, 52 wins in 71 games.
In the NBA Bubble in Orlando, FL the Lakers, led by James, steamrolled through their first three opponents and overcame an injured Miami Heat team in the Finals. Over the course of 21 playoff games he put up 27.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists. The Lakers were a +18 per 100 possessions with James on the court.
James finished second to Giannis Antetokounmpo in MVP voting, was an All-NBA first-team selection and ultimately won Finals MVP. For the ninth time in 10 years, he led his team to the NBA Finals, becoming the first player to win Finals MVP for three different franchises. He also provided leadership not just to his team but to an entire league as they mourned, wrestled and simply survived their way through 2020.
Even at 35, LeBron James made sure everyone knew he was still the best player, the face and the voice of the league.
2 TIM DUNCAN, PF, San Antonio Spurs
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 2. Tim Duncan, 2013-14 (37)
In 1996-97, a David Robinson injury sent the San Antonio Spurs spiraling into a lost season and the first overall pick, which they used to select Tim Duncan. Since then, the Spurs won at least 50 games (or their lockout-equivalent) for 20 straight seasons. That level of sustained success, peaked with five titles, is unheard of in modern sports.
There were many people who contributed to that success, but at the center of it all was Tim Duncan. The steady power forward contributed innumerable bank shots, blocked shots and bugged-out eyeballs protesting foul calls, playing 1392 regular-season games and over 47,000 minutes for the franchise.
While he hit the ground running and won two MVPs in his first five seasons, the peak of his late career was the 2013-14 season. Even at age 37, he was still a powerful force inside for the Spurs. He averaged 15.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks that year, steady as she goes. Even playing less than 30 minutes per game Duncan finished fifth in blocks and fourteenth in rebounds.
Advanced stats highlight his per-minute impact. Duncan was top-10 in defensive rebound percentage, block percentage, and defensive win shares. His defensive rating of 97.6 was fourth in the league. Duncan manned the middle of the league’s third-best defense, and the Spurs finished 62-20, the best record in the entire league.
Duncan only increased his impact in the postseason. He increased his playing time to 32.7 minutes per game, scoring 16.3 points and 9.2 rebounds. He totaled 3.2 win shares over a 23-game run that saw the Spurs take down the Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder on their path to the NBA Finals.
In the Finals, they faced the two-time defending champion Miami Heat. The Spurs absolutely crushed LeBron James and the Heat in five games, outscoring the Heat by 75 in those five games and holding them under 100 points all five games. Duncan was not only defensively dominant, but at the end his team won it all. Not bad for 38.
1 MICHAEL JORDAN, SG, Chicago Bulls
The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 1. Michael Jordan, 1997-98 (35)
His Airness, Mike, Air Jordan, The GOAT, Michael Jordan himself would top many lists of NBA historical accolades. He has won the most Finals MVP awards, is the greatest guard of all time and probably would win a poll of the greatest player of all time, even if there is a worthy debate between he and LeBron James. Yet again, Jordan tops another list, this time for the greatest season by a player 35 years or older in NBA history.
The 1997-98 season was one of titans, with four different teams winning at least 60 games. That included the Chicago Bulls, tied with the Utah Jazz at 62 to lead the league. Those two teams would meet in the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year come June. Prior to that, Jordan turned 35 in the midst of one of the greatest seasons of his career.
After earning the MVP award the year before and losing to Karl Malone likely on the back of voter fatigue, Jordan came out of the gates and showed the league he wanted his trophy back. He once again led the league in scoring at 28.7 points per game, also topping the league in usage percentage. Even with the team around him in a state of flux for much of the year — see the documentary The Last Dance for more — he willed his team to the best record.
Interestingly enough, Karl Malone finished ahead of Jordan in many advanced metrics such as win shares and box plus/minus, albeit barely. Yet Jordan easily eclipsed the value of Malone of anyone else in the league by willing the Bulls through the postseason. On the last play of his Bulls career, he sized up Byron Russell and hit one of the most famous shots in the history of the league.
At 35, Jordan dominated a league that still recognized him as the greatest, that still worshipped him as the greatest to ever play. They were in awe of him even as they tried to beat him. Yet again, for the sixth time, no one could when it mattered. Despite all that came after, the second retirement and the empty calorie scoring in Washington, this season was Jordan truly going out on top.
It is fitting that Michael Jordan reigns supreme on this list as well, with the greatest season by a player 35 years or older. He is joined by so many of the greatest players in NBA history, perhaps as many as six or seven of the ten best players of all time. Competing against every team in the league as well as Father Time is a tall task, but some players did it and created greatness in the process.
