LeBron James and the 10 best 'last acts' of an NBA career
If we're talking "last acts" of an NBA career, it is hard to top Bill Russell, who led the Boston Celtics as player-coach to Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals, defeating the rival Los Angeles Lakers for an 11th championship in 13 seasons. And he retired at age 34.
LeBron James will presumably pen the final chapter of the most narrative-driven career in sports history, as the 41-year-old will sign with the … Philadelphia 76ers.
Yeah, he's jumping teams — again. To another high-powered outfit, which now boasts James, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid. We can debate what that will mean for his legacy until the end of time (if his career ever ends by then), but there is no doubt that it will be one of the great last acts of an NBA career.
He is, after all, still an All-Star, still capable of contributing to a championship team, and anything remotely close to either of those things might make his the greatest.
What are the greatest last acts of an NBA career? Funny you should ask. We list them here, defining a last act as any end-of-career move by a Hall of Famer (or at least anyone since the 1976 NBA-ABA merger, when free agency officially started).
Ray Allen, Miami Heat (2012-14)
Allen left the Boston Celtics for the rival Heat in 2012, creating a rift with Kevin Garnett and company, but it was the right choice for his career at ages 37 and 38. One of the greatest shooters in league history naturally became an elite role player, averaging 10.3 points on 40% shooting from distance. He essentially posted the same statistics in the playoffs, where the Heat made consecutive trips to the NBA Finals in his two seasons there, winning the 2013 title — thanks to Allen's heroics.
Tracy McGrady, San Antonio Spurs (2013)
If not for Ray Allen's series-saving 3-pointer in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, T-Mac would have gotten his ring. At age 33, when his knees were shot, he signed a rest-of-year contract with the Spurs on the eve of the final day of the 2012-13 regular season. He only played garbage time in six playoff games, including two games of the Finals. I'm not sure he belongs on this list, but, man, he came this close to a perfect ending.
Karl Malone, Los Angeles Lakers (2003-04)
Malone played just one season for the Lakers at age 40, and it ended in a feud with Kobe Bryant, but he did make the 2004 NBA Finals, before the Detroit Pistons ran an old team out of the gym. He averaged a 13-9-4 in the regular season and was limited to 42 games by an MCL injury in his right knee, which required surgery at season's end. But he returned to start 21 of the Lakers' 22 playoff games en route to the Finals.
Michael Jordan, Washington Wizards (2001-03)
We think of Jordan on the Wizards as Hakeem Olajuwon on the Toronto Raptors or Patrick Ewing on the Orlando Magic, but he was better than that, even if the team was terrible. In two seasons in Washington at ages 38 and 39, Jordan averaged a 21-6-4 and made two All-Star appearances (albeit mostly on name recognition). He did not make the playoffs, but Jordan capped his career with 82 games on a bum knee.
Dwight Howard, Los Angeles Lakers (2019-20)
Yes, Howard played two more seasons afterward — one behind Joel Embiid on the Philadelphia 76ers and another back on the Lakers — but his age-34 season was the cherry on top of a Hall of Fame career. He started seven playoff games and averaged a double-double per 36 minutes as a role player for the 2020 champion Lakers. For all the criticism of his career, he got his ring, and nobody can take that away from him.
Gary Payton, Miami Heat (2005-07)
We thought the 2004 Lakers, with Malone, were Payton's last best chance at a title, but he found his way in his final two seasons to Miami, where Dwyane Wade's rise and Shaquille O'Neal's arrival gave him one more shot at a ring. And Payton seized it at age 37, averaging 6.6 points in 25.6 minutes a night, mostly off the bench, playing that role to great effect in 23 playoff games on the Heat's run to the 2006 title. He made a go-ahead basket late in their Game 5 overtime win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks (2008-12)
Granted, Kidd played one more season on the New York Knicks, but this was his real swan song — four-plus seasons in Dallas from ages 34-38. He made his final All-Star team in 2010, averaging a 10-6-9 on 42/43/81 shooting splits, and then won the title in 2011, starting all 21 playoff games and playing 35.4 minutes a night. There are few, if any, better transitions than Kidd's from all-time great into championship role player.
Clyde Drexler, Houston Rockets (1995-98)
From ages 32-25 (back when players retired in their mid-30s), in four-plus seasons for the Rockets, Drexler averaged a 19-6-5 on 45/34/79 shooting splits, made two All-Star appearances and won the 1995 NBA championship as Houston's second-best player behind Hakeem Olajuwon. Drexler reached another Western Conference finals in 1997, as Charles Barkley was making his less climactic final act beside him.
Bill Walton, Boston Celtics (1985-87)
Playing on a broken-down body, Walton had one more chance at basketball life in Boston, where he won a title at age 33 and reached the NBA Finals at age 34. He won Sixth Man of the Year honors on the 1985-86 Celtics, one of the great teams in history, averaging 7.6 points in 19.3 minutes a night. More than that, though, he and Larry Bird played some of the most beautiful basketball the game has ever seen.
