Lebron James is one of the most accomplished players in NBA history. Anyone who has ever watched the NBA in the last 10 years knows this. Lebron overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time scoring leader in 2023. He will soon overtake Kareem for most games played. But there is one record Lebron is still many years away from setting; the oldest player in NBA history.
Going into the 2024-25 season, Lebron James is just 40 years old and will become the 32nd player in NBA history to play in a game at age 40 or older. Should Lebron finish this season he would be the 19th oldest player in NBA history. Should he play the 2025-26 season, he would move to become the 7th oldest player in NBA history. If, somehow, Lebron James was able to play to the end of the 2028-29 NBA season, he would still only be the 2nd oldest player in NBA history; The oldest player in the NBA would still be Nat Hickey.
You might ask yourself, “Who the hell is Nat Hickey?”
Nat Hickey was the head coach of the Providence Steamrollers, one of the first BAA teams, in 1946. Hickey was their coach in the 1947-48 season when a rash of injuries forced the 46-year-old coach back into the game.
Hickey was a legend well before the NBA. Born in 1902, he is still the earliest-born player to ever play in an NBA game. He became a barnstorming legend in the 1920s with the Original Celtics, and played in the first iterations of the NBL, ABL, and ECBL. He went on to play in the NBL that would eventually merge with the NBA.
Hickey played in 26 games over 3 seasons in the NBL with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Indianapolis Kautskys, and Tri-Cities Blackhawks. His best NBL season game was in 1946 with Indianapolis where he played in 13 games and averaged 5.6. He was playing with the Blackhawks when he got a call from the owner of the Providence Steamrollers to come coach the team. After three games with the fledgling Blackhawks, he joined the abysmal Steamrollers.
The Steamrollers were the worst NBA team in history when Hickey joined them. He joined a team with just two wins and in 29 games he would only guide them to 4 wins before he too was fired. In total the Steamrollers won just 6 games that season – still an NBA low. The Blackhawks managed their ineptitude to join the NBA the next season and are now the Atlanta Hawks.
Injuries and terrible play doomed the Steamrollers. Hickey thought he could help the team win and on January 27, 1948, he checked into his first NBA game. He played just 5 minutes and recorded a pair of free throws. The next night vs the Knicks he checked in again with the Steamrollers being down 5 points. He played the last 3 and a half minutes of the first half, a half which seen the Knicks lead grow to 19 points. Hickey did not play himself in the 2nd half as the Steamrollers made a comeback but ultimately fell short. Newspaper articles lambasted the 46 year old rookie for putting himself in. Hickey’s 3 and a half minutes in 1948 may have been the worst minutes in NBA history.
Due in part to the criticism he received, and a couple of injured players getting healthy again, Hickey never played another game in the NBA. He finished his NBA career appearing in two games, averaging 1 point per game, and had a plus/minus of -25 in about 8 minutes of play.
The Steamrollers would eventually decide to part ways with the barnstorming legend and Hickey would stay in the basketball scene but never again coach or play in the NBA. In 1951 he was involved in a tragic automobile accident while driving the Johnstown Clippers home from a game where the Clippers star player was killed. Hickey was found not liable for the accident, but the team disbanded the following day and Hickey moved to coaching baseball. He would die in 1979 at age 77.
This brings us back to Lebron James and a record that may be insurmountable even for him. Hickey’s record is a bit of a fluke – coming in an era where the line between player and coach was thin, and where players bounced between leagues regularly. Hickey, like James, did have a lot play time in his leagues and moved around a lot. Both men have or had a remarkable ability to stay healthy and play at an elite level for a long time. But while Lebron has the modern amenities at his disposal and does not take a bus, train or car to games, he still has put a lot of miles on his body. James played non-stop for a good part of the early 2010s, and is still playing nightly into his late 30s. By the time Hickey was 35 he was playing sparingly, and the entire decade of the 1940s he may have played in a total of 50 games in about six leagues. Lebron appeared in 71 regular season, 5 post-season games, an all-star game, and 8 games from Team USA in 2024 alone. So getting to age 46 in the NBA may be a tough task even for Lebron James.