Players who make it to the NBA have a talent that is often recognized by discerning scouts, and it is up to them to develop their NBA careers, and players must face the effects of declining athleticism with age, and the more they get older, the more difficult it is to find a foothold in a league that has to absorb many young potential players every year.
Some players who can "fly and dunk" may be able to get a stable starting position when they are young, and even be selected for the All-Star and All-Star teams, but when the years wear off their athleticism, they gradually fade out of the league.
And some stars continue to polish their skills in the course of their careers, Jordan, Kobe, and James are the same, they have a long, dazzling career, and they can still hit high scores in the later stages of their careers, James can still cut 50+ at the age of 37, so how old were Jordan and Kobe Bryant at the last 50+?
James
50 points per game (37 years, 71 days) (as of 2023-24 season)
In the 2019-20 season, James, who was in the 17th year of his career, played more as a point guard, and left an average of 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game after the regular season.
In the 2021-22 season, James has experienced a change in his role in the game, this time playing more on the inside, and even appearing in the center position, and through this year, James has written a new legend, he played a career-high single-season regular season average of 30.3 points per game, although he has experienced injuries during the season, but when he stands on the court, the impact is still difficult to match.
In the second part of the season, he helped the Lakers hit the play-off places, during which the team's overall state was not too ideal, and he swallowed consecutive defeats many times, and James scored 50+ in a single game twice in a week to help the Lakers win two valuable victories, and in a game that led the Lakers to defeat the Warriors 124-116, the 37-year-old James scored 50+ in a single game for the first time, shooting 19 of 31 from the field, 12 of 13 from the serve, and scoring 56 points.
Just when many voices in the outside world were surprised that he was in the 19th year of his career, at the age of 37, James could still sweep 50+ in a single game, James quickly presented another scoring performance, a game that helped the Lakers beat the Wizards by 13 points, James shot 72% of the shooting rate and scored 50 points, at this time he was 37 years old and 71 days.
In the 2024-25 season, James will start his 22nd year in the NBA, and judging from his performances in the 2023-24 season and the Olympics, he is still in good shape. Few people would have thought that a player could average at least 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game for 20 consecutive years, and be selected to the All-Star team for 20 consecutive years, but James has achieved it all, and it is worth looking forward to another 50+ in a single game at the age of 40.
Jordan
51 points in a single game (38 years and 315 days)
The last time Jordan hit 50+ in a single game in his career was in the regular season of the 2001-02 season, when Jordan returned after 3 years away from the court and stood on the NBA court as a Wizard player, and before his comeback, Jordan's physical condition was not particularly good, he was undergoing tendinitis-related treatment, wrists, both knees have varying degrees of injuries, and even broke two ribs by Artest in a game before the official start of the 2001-02 season.
After experiencing an accident and injury, Jordan started a new journey in his career, and at the age of 38, the age at which many players were eliminated from the league.
In the first regular season game for the Wizards, Jordan scored 19 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, and then scored double-doubles in 25 consecutive games, including 44 points in a game with the Jazz.
But in a game with the Pacers after Christmas, the Wizards were beaten by the opponent and retreated, the team's coach Ming Jin closed early, and finally lost by 27 points, Jordan only got 25 minutes of playing time, which made Jordan feel uncomfortable, questioning whether the coach had doubts about his ability, and then it was Jordan's crazy scoring moment, 38 years old and 315 days old, Jordan scored 51 points in a single game.
In the 2001-02 regular season, the 29th game of the Wizards, winning the battle with the Hornets they were able to increase the winning rate to more than 50%, plus the previous game of losing by 27 points, and in the game suffered from the experience of "throwing and admitting", Jordan saved up enough energy to play to help the team win, the game showed full vitality at the beginning, positive position, jump shot feel hot, rush to grab the front court rebound secondary offense also has a good success rate, back singles is even more difficult to stop.
- Jordan played 12 minutes, 10 of 14 shots, 24 points alone, Jordan's hand remained good in the second quarter, playing 6 minutes and 02 seconds, scoring 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting, adding another 11 points in the third quarter, and the Wizards' lead has come to 17 points.
- In the final quarter, Jordan's hand dropped back, but he still scored a team-high 6 points in a single quarter, and finally helped the Wizards defeat the Hornets 107-90, and his personal full-court score stopped at 51 points, becoming the first player in the NBA to have a single-game 50+ performance in three different decades, and also set a new record for the oldest NBA player to score 50+ points in a single game at that time, and this record was not broken by Jamal Crawford until 2019.
Bryant
60 points in a single game (37 years and 234 days)
Kobe Bryant's coordination and balance are excellent, "can run and jump" when he enters the league, but there is still room for improvement in confrontation ability, the Lakers started from the bench, received widespread attention, looking back on the history of the NBA, the mentality is unbalanced under heavy pressure, and there are not a few talented players who were eliminated from the league early, and Kobe Bryant does not belong to this kind of player, find problems and solve them, do not hesitate, and soon appear in front of the fans with a stronger attitude, and the grasp of difficult shots is higher.
In his long career, Kobe Bryant has experienced many periods of different types of defense in the league and different intensities, and has been able to play excellent scoring performances, appearing in the game as an "offensive kaleidoscope", using all kinds of classical mid-range scoring skills, and the threat of back-to-back singles is the top existence among players in the same position, so there are 81 points in a single game, 50+ in 4 consecutive games, and three times in a month to stage the drama of killing opponents and other famous scenes.
In the 2015-16 season, the Lakers faced the Jazz in the final game of the regular season, Kobe Bryant's hand was not good at the beginning, and he missed all five shots, but then quickly adjusted, hitting 3 shots in a row, including a 2+1 layup after holding the ball outside the three-point line and breaking into the basket, a highlight performance caused the Lakers to sound a deafening "MVP" call at home.
In the first quarter, Kobe Bryant had already scored 15 points, and added 7 points in the second quarter.
The third and fourth quarters combined were only 4 seconds away from the full game, and he scored 38 points, including 23 points in the final quarter, he led the Lakers to achieve a comeback when they were 15 points behind, with a three-point stop, a dragon breakthrough, and a difficult backward jumper, as if to let people see the appearance of Kobe Bryant when he was young, but he was 37 years old and 234 days old, dragging his leg that had suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon to do all this, and wrote the last sentence of the final chapter for his NBA player era in the way of "Black Mamba".