NBA history was made on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, with future Hall of Famer LeBron James making his season debut after missing the first 14 games of the 2025-26 campaign. It marked the first time a player has played in 23 seasons in the NBA.
James was sidelined due to a sciatica issue, leading back to the NBA offseason. The highly anticipated season debut didn’t disappoint, as the legendary forward finished with a double-double, dropping 11 points and dishing out a game-high 12 assists, helping lead the Lakers to their 11th win of the season.
Lakers’ LeBron James’ Historic Longevity Shown in an Incredible Way
Playing in 23 NBA seasons is remarkable and potentially something that will never be seen again in the league. James’ feat is so incredible that it got summed up with a couple of eye-popping tweets on Tuesday night during the Lakers’ matchup with the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
year 23 and year 18
and that nugget is wild! pic.twitter.com/m7qBuj5FVx
— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) November 19, 2025
James made his debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Oct. 29, 2003, which is remarkable in itself, but the fact that 82 active players in the NBA right now weren’t even born yet is wild, to say the least.
The complete list of players includes notable names such as Cooper Flagg, Jalen Duren, Jaylen Wells, Kel’el Ware, Keyonte George (who James faced on Tuesday), Matas Buzelis, Stephon Castle, Victor Wembanyama, VJ Edgecombe, and Zaccharie Risacher.
Full list of active nba players (who have played this season) who are younger than LeBron’s NBA career:
Ace Bailey
Adou Thiero
AJ Johnson
Alex Sarr
Anthony Black
Asa Newell
Ben Saraf
Bilal Coulibaly
Brice Sensabaugh
Bronny James
Bub Carrington
Cam Christie
Cam Whitmore
Carter…
— Automatic (@automaticnba) November 19, 2025
Some of those names are players that are already superstars, like Wembanyama, or well on their way to making a name for themselves in the league, like Flagg, Duren, Buzelis, and Edgecombe.
The crazy part of this is that the list will continue to grow if James decides to keep playing after the 2025-26 NBA season, with a new crop of talented players coming into the league during the 2026 NBA Draft. James continues to redefine longevity in professional sports while raising the bar a little higher with every season he laces them up.
Only time will tell how long James will be able to continue playing in the NBA or if he simply walks away from the game before his body breaks down, like most do well before the age of 40.
It’ll be interesting to see how James holds up throughout this season and if he feels compelled to continue his NBA career into the 2026-27 campaign, which will be another milestone set, as he’ll be 41 years old with 24 seasons to his credit as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
