This week’s WYT falls on the actual penultimate Week 19 of the fantasy basketball regular season. After discussing the top rookies of this season last week, it’s only right now to talk about the old heads. We’ll take a look at the eldest fantasy-relevant players this season. These are the guys who are either still chugging along producing at an elite level, or are guys who have been good enough at their jobs to have lasted to this point. Like fine wine, the five eldest fantasy relevant players are all within the top-100 mark (we’ll make one exception).
LeBron James (rank: 21st)
James is the third-oldest player in the NBA behind Udonis Haslem (42) and Andre Iguodala (39). While Haslem has adopted a locker room/player coach role within the Heat organization and Iguodala has languished a mere three games, James has cemented his place in the history books this season by setting the all-time record for points scored. At the ancient age of 38, James is averaging 29-8-7 while shooting 50% from the field. There’s no telling when he will truly fall off; after all, rumors of his demise began circulating more than three years ago, but there’s nary evidence to support that claim beyond the increased consistency of his name popping up on injury reports. James remains the first option on a subpar Lakers team that’s wasting his many years of experience. Luckily for us, fantasy managers can expect his level of production to continue next year (probably?). His games played will surely begin tapering off as the seasons pass, but it’s still incredible to be at his age and producing at his level.
Chris Paul (rank: 39th)
Fun fact of the day: CP3 has never finished lower than 21st for fantasy in his entire career. From 2007 until 2018, Paul was ranked in single digits every single season. How’s that for consistency? Well, until now. Paul has been bruised and battered this year, averaging a career-low 11.2 shot attempts a game. His assists are still strong, but the points, steals, FG%, and FT% are all slowly dwindling down, fading away alongside his chances to win a championship. Paul is performing at about his ADP this season (36), averaging 13-4-9 with 1.5 steals while shooting 42% from the field. Managers would be wise to expect further decline next year, as Paul’s fantasy relevance surely begins its descent.
Kyle Lowry (rank: 102)
Lowry started off the year hot and produced at a top 60 level, but has fallen away since. Injuries and poor shooting have derailed his season (just 39% shooting this year) alongside weak numbers in pretty much every area. He’s not as old as Paul, but his decline is apparent, too. Perhaps he’s saving the juice for a Heat playoff run, but I’m skeptical. Lowry is averaging 12-4-5 with just north of 1 steal per game.
Al Horford (rank: 74)
Horford is a big contributor for Boston this season. He’s averaging 30 minutes a game with 10-6-3 and a block a game on decent percentages. Most of his value is tied up into his virtually nonexistent turnover count, but he’s not hurting your team in any way and can still fill up the stat sheet on occasion. I suspect that he’s going to have his big moments in the playoffs, but for the regular season, Horford probably won’t be fantasy relevant much longer.
Stephen Curry (rank 6)
Including Curry here is a bit unfair because there’s still Mike Conley who’s older, but talking about Curry is fun. Plus, Curry is the highest-ranked player over the age of 35. Curry is averaging 29-5-6 with five 3’s a game, 50% FG, and 92% FT. This is all prototypical Curry. He’s a strong example of a player who has the skill set that enables NBA-longevity, and the cardio to boot. He’ll miss games more often as the years go by, but the production and the otherworldly shooting will always be there. He’s played the fewest games (38) this season out of the 18 oldest fantasy relevant players this season due to injury. It’s hard to see that trend changing next year. These older studs are going to miss a lot of back-to-back games and take longer to recover from injuries. With Curry, that upside may just be worth it.
