Thanks in large part to advancements in sports medicine and conditioning, more and more NBA players are extending their careers into their mid-to-late 30s, and even beyond. For example, in the decade of the 1970s (the 1969-70 through 1978-79 seasons) players age 35 years or older* accounted for 1.4% of all player minutes, but in the 2010s that number rose to 4.1%.
* Based on the player’s age on February 1 of the given season.
But these cases are not equally distributed among the five positions. As players age, speed and quickness almost always fade before strength. Thus players who play positions that tend to rely more on speed and quickness (guards) are likely to have shorter careers than players who play positions that rely more on strength (post players).
The numbers back this up. Thus far in the 2020s, power forwards and centers who are 35 years or older have played 43,354 minutes, while points guards and shooting guards in the same age group have accumulated just 28,050 minutes.
In other words, guards who are able to retain their effectiveness into their mid-to-late 30s are both rare and exceedingly valuable. Here’s my subjective list of the top five guards in NBA history based on production from their age-35 season to the end of their career.
#5 Jason Kidd
Statistics 34 years and younger / 35 years and older:
Seasons: 14 / 5
GP: 1,026 / 365
MPG: 37.3 / 32.4
PPG: 14.2 / 8.1
RPG: 6.7 / 5.0
APG: 9.3 / 7.1
FG%: .401 / .392
3P%: .337 / .378
FT%: .781 / .826
TS%: .500 / .540
IW per 48 MIN*: .148 / .119
* This is individual wins per 48 minutes, my replacement for win shares. It’s on the same scale as win shares.
Although Kidd was a point guard for the overwhelming majority of his career, he was more of a combo guard in his last few seasons, spending time at both shooting guard and point guard.
Because of this role change, Kidd’s assist rates dropped quite a bit toward the end of his career, but he made up for that with significant improvement in his scoring efficiency, in particular his 3-point shooting.
Prior to his age-35 season, Kidd took 31.0% of his shots from 3-point range and made them at a .337 clip. But in his last five seasons, Kidd attempted a whopping 65.3% of his shots from long range and hit them at a .378 rate.
Steals and blocks are two statistics that are typically associated with young, athletic defenders, but Kidd actually averaged more steals plus blocks per 36 minutes over his last five seasons (2.38) than he did in his first 14 seasons in the league (2.21).
#4 Steve Nash
Statistics 34 years and younger / 35 years and older:
Seasons: 13 / 5
GP: 934 / 283
MPG: 31.1 / 32.0
PPG: 14.4 / 14.0
RPG: 3.0 / 3.1
APG: 8.0 / 10.0
FG%: .487 / .502
3P%: .432 / .411
FT%: .900 / .918
TS%: .604 / .607
IW per 48 MIN: .184 / .169
There have been 14 seasons in NBA history in which a player shot .500/.400/.900 while meeting the minimum requirements for all three shooting percentages. Nash is personally responsible for four of those seasons, and incredibly he averaged a .502/.411/.918 shooting line over the last five seasons of his career.
Despite his impressive shooting and passing, Nash’s individual wins per 48 minutes dipped slightly over his last five seasons for two main reasons: (1) a significant increase in his turnover rate (from 2.7 to 3.3 per game, a 22% increase) and (2) a decrease in some of his defensive numbers.
The one thing that keeps Nash from ranking higher on this list is availability. Nash is one of 13 guards in NBA history to play at least five seasons from his age-35 season on, but his average of 56.6 games played per season ranks 12th among those players. Over the last two seasons of his career, Nash missed 99 out of a possible 164 regular season games.
#3 Chris Paul
Statistics 34 years and younger / 35 years and older:
Seasons: 15 / 4
GP: 1,020 / 252
MPG: 34.9 / 30.8
PPG: 18.5 / 13.7
RPG: 4.5 / 4.3
APG: 9.5 / 8.9
FG%: .471 / .473
3P%: .370 / .367
FT%: .870 / .864
TS%: .582 / .574
IW per 48 MIN: .280 / .196
The only active player on this list, Paul — who will turn 40 years old during next season’s playoffs — continues to play at a high level, and could move up to number two with a good (and healthy) season in 2024-25.
I used the “healthy” qualifier above because Paul has not played more than 70 games in a season since 2015-16. Over the last two seasons, he’s missed 23 and 24 games, respectively, with various ailments.
That said, when Paul has played he’s been highly effective. He averaged a league-leading 10.8 APG in 2021-22 at the age of 36, a figure that’s only been eclipsed by one player in his age-35 season or later (Nash, twice).
Paul is one of only five players to earn multiple All-NBA nods in his age-35 season or later, and he’s the only guard to appear on the list. The other players are LeBron James (five selections), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (four), Karl Malone (three), and Tim Duncan (two).
#2 Reggie Miller
Statistics 34 years and younger / 35 years and older:
Seasons: 13 / 5
GP: 1,013 / 376
MPG: 34.6 / 33.4
PPG: 19.5 / 14.6
RPG: 3.1 / 2.7
APG: 3.0 / 2.9
FG%: .480 / .442
3P%: .403 / .373
FT%: .881 / .915
TS%: .620 / .593
IW per 48 MIN: .187 / .157
Miller was one of the most efficient scorers in NBA history. His career average of 121.5 points produced per 100 possessions is the best all time among inactive players (minimum 10,000 career points). Miller’s offensive rating from his age-35 season to the end of his career was 119.0, the second-highest such figure among players with at five seasons played.
Only 15 players have posted at least one season with 10 or more individual wins in their age-35 season or later, and Miller is the only shooting guard to do so (once, in 2000-01). His 41 individual wins from his age-35 season forward rank sixth in NBA history, with only one guard ahead of him (we’ll get to him next).
Although Miller’s shooting slipped a bit in the latter stages of his career, he still averaged .157 individual wins per 48 minutes after turning 35 years old, 57% higher than the league average rate of .100.
Miller was an ironman. As noted in the section on Nash, only 13 guards in NBA history have played at least five seasons from their age-35 season on. Miller’s average of 75.2 games played per season ranks first among those players, and he also ranks first in that group in minutes per game (33.4).
#1 John Stockton
Statistics 34 years and younger / 35 years and older:
GP: 1,062 / 442
MPG: 32.8 / 29.3
PPG: 13.6 / 11.9
RPG: 2.7 / 2.8
APG: 11.5 / 8.2
FG%: .520 / .504
3P%: .383 / .386
FT%: .823 / .918
TS%: .612 / .597
IW per 48 MIN: .223 / .221
Stockton’s durability was amazing. Over the course of his 19-season career, Stockton missed just 22 out of a possible 1,526 regular season games, with 18 of those games coming at the start of the 1997-98 season. He played in all of his team’s games 17 times, the most such seasons in NBA history.
Although Stockton’s minutes were significantly reduced starting with the 1997-98 season — he went from playing 35-40 minutes per game to 25-30 minutes per game — it was not due to a slippage in play.
On a per-minute basis, Stockton was just as effective in his later years as he was in the first part of his career. That’s even more remarkable when you consider that Stockton was no slouch in his earlier years, as he was a 10-time All-NBA selection and a five-time All-Defensive selection before reaching his age-35 season.
To put Stockton’s play late in his career into perspective, consider this: All-NBA guard Devin Booker averaged .223 individual wins per 48 minutes last season, essentially the same as what Stockton averaged from his age-35 season through the end of his career (.221).