Top 10 NBA Players Age 35 and Older: LeBron James remains near the top as he enters his 40s, but he’s not No. 1

With the NBA The season is quickly approaching and here at CBS Sports we publish our annual report. Ranking of the 100 best NBA playersPart of what makes the Top 100 so intriguing is looking at all the different ways the information can be broken down. Like assessing who is the The biggest rises and falls are from the previous year, to compile a list of the Top 10 players aged 22 or younger.

Along the same lines of ranking the top 10 players by age, while there is so much emphasis on young players, veterans are still very important in the league. The NBA may be getting younger, with players being pushed out of opportunities due to age, but there are still a handful of players aged 35 and older who are making an impact on the game.

So it’s only fair to take a look at the top 10 players aged 35 or older. LeBron James and Kevin Durant are certainly among this group, but where do they rank? LeBron has been the face of the league for over a decade, but has he held the number one spot among veterans? Let’s find out.

Age: 39
Top 100 ranking: NR. Paul’s decline has been steady over the past two years, but we’re not far removed from him leading the league in assists on a Suns team that won 64 games. He came off the bench for the first time in his career last year with the Warriors, and while he provided much-needed relief for Stephen Curry, it was obvious that other players had surpassed him. But now he’s embarking on another adventure — one that Paul is uniquely suited for, as he serves as a veteran mentor to Victor Wembanyama and a Spurs team looking to build around a young superstar who projects to be the face of the league going forward. jasmine wimbish

Age: 38
Top 100 ranking: NR. I’m actually pretty surprised that Horford didn’t crack our Top 100, but that just goes to show how much talent there is in the NBA. But he’s still one of the most valuable veterans a team can have, as evidenced by the crucial role he played in Boston’s championship run, which earned him his first ring. Despite coming off the bench for most of the season, he returned to the starting lineup when Kristaps Porzingis was injured, and he had several games where he was one of the most important players on the court for the Celtics. jasmine wimbish

Age: 36
Top 100 ranking: 88. How often do you hear a fan base lamenting the lack of a rim-protecting center who can shoot 3s? The Pelicans have been looking for one for five years. Everyone wants a Brook Lopez. They can’t have one because he’s unique. In the absence of superstars on max contracts, there simply aren’t other centers who don’t take anything away from the floor on either end and add plenty on both. Lopez leads the league in contested shots every year. His 3-point efficiency waxes and wanes, but he combines it with enough skill inside the arc that defenses still have to count on him no matter where he is. He doesn’t rebound himself, but he’s so smart in his positioning and blocking that he’s a valuable team rebounder. He’s the center everyone wants but only the Bucks can have. Sam Quinn

Age: 36
Top 100 ranking: 85. Conley will enter next season as one of the oldest players in the league, but he also remains one of the most valuable veterans a young team like the Timberwolves could have. As he has throughout his career, Conley acts as the perfect bridge between star players like Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns, while also being someone who can’t be ignored when he’s standing beyond the 3-point line. He’s coming off a career year when it comes to his 3-point shooting, and he should once again be a key piece on a Minnesota team primed to make another deep run in the postseason. jasmine wimbish

Age: 35
Top 100 ranking: 53. Even when uncertainty loomed over a Bulls roster that had a steady stream of players last season, DeRozan was the steady hand that guided Chicago. He kept a mediocre roster competitive and kept the Bulls within one win of earning the final playoff spot in the East. DeRozan’s mid-range game is as lethal as anyone’s. Last season, he was consistently consistent, rarely missed games and finished second in the Player of the Year category. This year he joins a Kings team where his role could change significantly, but one thing that won’t change is that he’ll give you an efficient 15-20 points a night. jasmine wimbish

Age: 35
Top 100 ranking: #44. Harden’s basketball odyssey took him to Los Angeles last season, where he joined his fourth team in four years. Despite another change of scenery, that campaign ended like many before it. In the final two games of the Clippers’ first-round series, both losses, Harden scored 23 points on 28 shots en route to a six-game exit at the hands of the Mavericks. With Paul George leaving for Philadelphia this summer, Harden will need to shoulder a larger scoring load than he has in recent years for the Clippers to remain relevant in the Western Conference. Jack Maloney

Age: 35
Top 100 ranking: #22. Butler is what he is: a great player who paces himself in the regular season to produce superstar postseason runs. The stats fill every column, and the impact always adds up. Last season, the Heat outscored their opponents by 1.7 points per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass; that figure rose to plus-eight points per 100 when Butler was on the court. The question is: Are the Heat still good enough to give Butler a chance to put on his playoff clothes? Or is this a regressing team that might actually look to trade Butler before his next and likely last significant payday? Brad Botkin

3. Kevin Durant, Suns

Age: 35
Top 100 ranking: 9. Durant remains very close to his full potential. He averaged 27-6-5 on 41% shooting from 3-point range last season and, perhaps most importantly, played in 75 games, easily his best mark since leaving Golden State. There were rumors that he didn’t like the way Frank Vogel was using him. It will be interesting to see what kind of difference Mike Budenholzer makes in terms of Durant’s scoring and shooting and the way he receives the ball; i.e., from stationary positions or behind more of his preferred screens. Either way, Durant was the best isolation scorer in basketball last season. Brad Botkin

2. LeBron James, Lakers

Age: 39
Top 100 Ranking: 8. LeBron James recently became the oldest player to win an MVP award in any competition involving active NBA players, as he was named the most valuable player of the 2024 Olympics. This breaks a record he himself set during the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament. Sure, it’s unreasonable to expect the impending forty-something to be the NBA’s best player over the course of an 82-game season, but make no mistake, in a smaller sample size, there still might not be a single player in all of basketball who inspires more fear in his opponents than LeBron James. It’s unclear how many MVP awards of any kind he still has left in his aging body, but when he needs to, he can still summon all of the skill and ferocity that earned him his first award. Sam Quinn

1. Stephen Curry, Warriors

Age: 36
Top 100 ranking: 6. Curry remains an attack unto himself with his inimitable movement and raw talent for making shots. At 36, it’s hard to see where he’s lagged on offense, but what we’ve seen is that as great as Curry remains as he ages, he needs better talent around him to become a title contender again. LeBron can relate. Brad Botkin