Two days before the 2009-2010 NBA season begins, we pay tribute to the guys who still make it out of bed, despite the aching bones and other age induced pains and troubles. Oh right, I forgot they get millions for playing Basketball, that’s always a good reason. But being durable is worthy of being admired, especially after so much time in the league – so here they are, the 10 oldest players in the NBA.
Number 10 – Theo Ratliff, San Antonio Spurs, 36
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Born on April 17th, 1973, in Demopolis, Alabama, Ratliff will be starting his 15th NBA season in 2009-2010. This time it will be with the San Antonio Spurs, his 7th NBA team. Like in recent years, he’ll try to give a few minutes rest to the big guys in the starting five. Last season he didn’t get to start any games, and averaged 12.6 minutes a night.
Number 9 – Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks, 36
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The future hall of famer was born on March 23, 1973, in San Francisco, California. Kidd, one of the league’s best point guards ever, will be starting his 16th NBA season and his third with the Mavs (his second stint there). His scoring average dropped for the first time in his career below the 10 ppg mark, and despite him playing at least 80 games in each of the last four seasons, his numbers are dropping and there’s not much more juice to squeeze out of this lemon (Kidd and the Mavs.
Number 8 – Michael Finley, San Antonio Spurs, 36
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Born on March 6, 1973, in Melrose Park, Illinois, Finley will begin his 15th NBA season and his fifth with the San Antonio Spurs in 2009-2010. He’s been scoring way below his career average since he’s moved to San Antonio, averaging 9.7 ppg last season but he’s still hitting them from the outside (41.1% last season) and is a very important role player for the Spurs’ (maybe final with this core group) title challenge this season.
Number 7 – Juwan Howard, Portland Trail Blazers, 36
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Born on February 7th, 1973, in Chicago, Illinois, Howard is still mostly known for his part of the “Fab-Five” back in the 90’s in the University of Michigan. Howard will be starting his 16th NBA season this year, this time with the Portland Trail Blazers, the 6th team he’s played for. Last two years he hasn’t played more than 50 games and probably won’t get more than 10 minutes a night playing for the Blazers.
Number 6 – Kevin Ollie, Oklahoma City Thunder, 36
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Born on December 27, 1972, in Dallas, Texas, Kevin Ollie will begin his 13th NBA season in 2009-2010, this time with the Oklahoma City Thunder, his 12th NBA team. Ollie has never been more than a bench player although last season did get to start 21 times as a TimberWolves player, scoring 4 ppg, his best since 2003-2004. He won’t give the Thunder much more, except for some experience in the locker room.
Number 5 – Grant Hill, Phoenix Suns, 37
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Born on October 5, 1972, in Dallas, Texas, Grant Hill will be starting his 16th NBA season and third with the Phoenix Suns in 2009-2010. Hill was en route to the hall of fame in the first six seasons of his career, but too many injuries sidelined him and limited him for most of the last decade. His last two seasons with the Suns have been reasonably good, and he even played 82 games last season, the first time in his career. Staying healthy and producing double-digit scoring will be good enough again this year, as he creeps slowly towards 40.
Number 4 – Kurt Thomas, Milwaukee Bucks, 37
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Another Dallas native, Kurt Thomas was born on October 4, 1972. This season will be his 15th, with the Bucks being his 7th stop in his career. Thomas managed to stay healthy for a full season in 2008-2009 with the Spurs, the first time he’s so much (79 games) since 2004-2005 as a Knicks player. 15-20 Minutes with 4-5 rebounds per game and solid paint defending will be good enough for him and the Bucks.
Number 3 – Shaquille O’Neal, Cleveland Cavaliers, 37
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Shaq was born on March 6, 1972, in Newark, New Jersey. He’ll be starting his 18th season in 2009-2010 and his first with the Cavs, his fifth stop in his NBA career. He hasn’t scored over 20+ in his last three season, but did manage staying healthy for almost the entire season last year, playing 75 games for the Suns, the most for him since 1999-2000. If he can stay healthy for the Cavs this year, especially for the playoffs, as Shaq tends to do, he maybe the piece that finally falls in place for the Lebron James title quest.
Number 2 – Brent Barry, Houston Rockets, 37
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The most successful of the four “Barry Brothers” but not as good as his father, Rick Barry, Brent was born on December 31, 1971 in Hempstead, New York. Although winning two NBA titles with the Spurs (2005, 2007) as a important player off the bench, he’s still mostly remembered for his win in the 1996 Dunk Contest, with the jump from the foul line. He’ll be starting his 15 NBA season in 2009-2010, his second with the Houston Rockets.
Number 1 – Lindsey Hunter, Chicago Bulls, 38
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The oldest player in the NBA today, Lindsey Hunter, born December 3, 1970, in Utica, Mississippi, will begin his 17th season in the league in 2009-2010 and his second with the Bulls. Hunter doesn’t get to play much – injuries and ability issues, but when he does play, which is around 9 minutes a night, he still gives great defense, no matter who he faces. Theoretically, can reach 1000 regular season games this year, but he hasn’t played 76 games since 2004-2005, and it’s hard to imagine it’ll happen this year.
32 responses to “Top Ten Oldest Players in the NBA”
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Gettin old bball players!
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old soldiers
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geez i hope kidd wins an nba title before he retires.. he really deserves it..
“there’s not much more juice to squeeze out of this lemon (Kidd and the Mavs.”
Dumbass remark. Do you know anything about basketball at all?
What didn’t you like, the “sophisticated” metaphor or the fact that the post doesn’t show faith in Kidd and the Mavs?
Interesting article. I thought Shaq was the oldest, but I guess not.
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MUTUMBO FTW
It shows that old guys can still play the game because of experience
Very nice site!
Um bruce bowen is 38. noob
Bruce Bowen retired when this post came out
Well, all these guys deserve our recognition because it is not so easy to demonstrate such professional performance as they do. Just my two cents
Nash is getting up there, i think hes 35 or 36
and Greg Oden looks older than all of them.
AMAZING JUST TOTALING AMAZING
Here is a nice documentary for prime time. How do these guys do it? Think about it? This is a top cardio and speed game with more contact then fans will ever see.
Average career of an NBA player is 3.75 years, these cats keep among the top 400 players in the whole world for almost 20 years? Sure, they can’t dunk anymore, the miles have taken all the cartilage out of their knees, there is a freak players in every sport that go and go, these guys should be given special awards for competing with a new crew of talent from the world every year since their first. Basketball is the most global sport. Some are still starters, but all are professionals who work out 365 days. Announcers and most of the press don’t get how hard this is, playing a decade in the NBA is just an amazing achievement. Yes, Mutumbo was the class of class, a 7 foot plus player, building a total hospital for charity and graduating form Georgetown.
Love the game, the caps keeps a level playing field versus Baseball (still cheating still w/humane growth hormone now), love these players, their tenacity win. Most are Professionals off the court also.
The NBA is the best run league of any sport now. To these players, this Bud is for you from here in St. Lou !
These guys deserve a lot of respect because if you actually watch the NBA it is an intense sport
[…] a month before the Yankees and the Red Sox open the 2010 baseball season, and like we did with the NBA about four months ago, we looked up the oldest players in Baseball, fossils from the early […]
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and Greg Oden looks older than all of them.
As a professional motivator and sports team mindset and mental motivation coach, I think we’ll see the age shoot up with changes in mindset (the way we think or what we think) and advancements in knowledge and medicine.
It’s strange how some people think these players can’t still grow. Look at Kidd. He’s now a good three point shooter and Nash is so much more than a fast break artist now. I want to see Nash add the take over the game when needed towards the end of the game by taking the ball to the rack. That would grow his game.
The mindset in the NBA is changing. More important than running and jumping like a deer are the development of basketball talents and skills.
Lindsey Hunter plays for bulls is my favorite player. Basketball need great skills for playing like jumping and running which all players have to give at their fullest. These guys deserve a lot of respect for giving their all time in Basketball.
These 10 players have given us a lot to watch over the years and still continue to produce. I am most excited to see where Shaq is going to go and ho well Howard is going to do with the Heat. Should be another good year for most of this list.
[…] again, like last year, as part of previewing the up and coming 2010-2011 NBA season, we pay respect to the league’s […]
shaq is getin old thow
I suppose 38 is quite old for a basketball player. I’m sure there have been instances in the past where there have been players over 40 but now-days the game is just too competitive.
[…] Lindsey Hunter and Shaquille O’Neal, the “winners” of the previous incarnations of this list, no longer play basketball for a living, so it’s time for the “younger” guys to step up. We’ve got a new number one, who edges out his runner-up by one fine autumn day in October of 1972. […]