LeBron James may be having a tough season with his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, sitting 10 games under .500 and in the 9th seed. However, James has been having an incredible individual year as he is currently the NBA scoring leader ahead of MVP candidates Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
James scored 38 points in his last game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, also getting a triple-double in the game. The production we are seeing from a 37-year old LeBron is unprecedented in the game of basketball. LeBron has been performing at an incredibly high level for 19 years of his career and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Former Laker and current ESPN Analyst Matt Barnes has been stunned with James playing the way he is in Year 19 and decided to coin a new term to adequately appreciate what LeBron is doing week-in and week-out.
“Bron-gevity. I think the fact he’s been able to come into this league and be in his prime since Day 1. He’s 37 years old and now he’s leading the league in scoring at 37 years old.”
Barnes using the term caught even ESPN writer Ramona Shelbourne off-guard, as it was the perfect term to describe what is happening with LeBron. Matt Barnes better rush to trademark that term, as it might become one that we hear a lot until James decides to retire from the game.
The only other player with even nearly comparable longevity is the man that leads the NBA scoring charts in Kareem-Abdul Jabbar. However, Kareem also played many years in college and wasn’t even averaging half the points LeBron is when he was in year 19 or even 37 years old. A new precedent for longevity has been set by LeBron, one that future generations will forever be compared to.
