Given how often the relative age of the Lakers‘ roster served as a punchline this offseason, it perhaps comes as no surprise that Los Angeles has the most players on this season’s list of the top 10 oldest players in the NBA. A trio of Lakers show up on this year’s list, and a fourth would have made the cut if the club hadn’t jettisoned 36-year-old Marc Gasol last month.
However, it’s not a Lakers player who has the honor of being the oldest player in the NBA in 2021/22. That distinction still belongs to Heat big man Udonis Haslem, who became the league’s oldest active player a year ago following Vince Carter‘s retirement and still holds the title. Haslem was born three-and-a-half years before any other active player, so as long as he keeps signing one-year deals with Miami to extend his career, it’s safe to assume he’ll remain atop this list.
The Lakers, Heat, and Nets, three teams with championship aspirations, all have multiple players among the league’s 10 oldest.
While it’s possible this top 10 could change a little when regular season rosters are set in mid-October, none of these players appears in danger of being waived.
Here’s the list of the oldest players in the NBA heading into the ’21/22 season:
- Udonis Haslem, Heat (born 6/9/1980)
- Andre Iguodala, Warriors (born 1/28/1984)
- Carmelo Anthony, Lakers (born 5/29/1984)
- LeBron James, Lakers (born 12/30/1984)
- Paul Millsap, Nets (born 2/10/1985)
- P.J. Tucker, Heat (born 5/5/1985)
- Chris Paul, Suns (born 5/6/1985)
- Taj Gibson, Knicks (born 6/24/1985)
- Trevor Ariza, Lakers (born 6/30/1985)
- LaMarcus Aldridge, Nets (born 7/19/1985)
On the other end of the spectrum, nine of the NBA’s top 10 youngest active players were selected in the 2021 draft, while the 10th was an undrafted rookie free agent.
Interestingly, five of the league’s 10 youngest players are on two teams that battled for the Western Conference crown in 2018 and 2019 — the Rockets have three names on the list below, while the Warriors have two.
One of Houston’s youngsters – Daishen Nix – is on a non-guaranteed contract and may not be on the team’s roster in a few weeks when the regular season begins. However, if he comes off the list, we can just replace him with another Rocket — Jalen Green (born 2/9/2002) is currently the NBA’s 11th-youngest player.
Here are the 10 youngest players currently on NBA rosters:
- Joshua Primo, Spurs (born 12/24/2002)
- Josh Giddey, Thunder (born 10/10/2002)
- Jonathan Kuminga, Warriors (born 10/6/2002)
- Jaden Springer, Sixers (born 9/25/2002)
- JT Thor, Hornets (born 8/26/2002)
- Alperen Sengun, Rockets (born 7/25/2002)
- Moses Moody, Warriors (born 5/31/2002)
- Keon Johnson, Clippers (born 3/10/2002)
- Usman Garuba, Rockets (born 3/9/2002)
- Daishen Nix, Rockets (born 2/13/2002)
Information from Basketball-Reference was used in the creation of this post.
So even if Nix doesn’t make the team (and with so much young depth he probably won’t), the Rockets will still have 3 of the 10 youngest players in the entire NBA.
Kevin Porter, KJ Martin, and Josh Christopher are also only 19-20 YO themselves.
Josh Christopher isn’t far off either (top 15, I think).
I saw Josh Giddey on the bench in street clothes during an OKC-Golden State Summer League game and thought he was a young fan who got lost. My stepson told me that was OKC’s top ten pick. Forget the fact that he’s not old enough to drink…I questioned if he was old enough to drive.
If he does drive, he needs to learn how to drive on the right side of the road.
I hope fans remember how young Giddey is. Theres often pressure to perform immediately because of being picked so high. The Thunder have a bit of time to develop him and Poku, then throw in Shai, Dort, Roby, Bazley, etc and look out, cos these guys will be different players in 2-3 years.
Anyone else feel old looking at the list? Only one player is older than me and all of the top ten youngest were born after I graduated high school.
I’m over that. Then again, it has been several years since there a player younger than me on the list. Tim Duncan was the last player older than me. Although Vince Carter was only a few months younger.
I was in HS when all those 10 oldest players were born, except for Haslem.
There may have been some “official” rooting for PJ Tucker last year, but after getting his ‘ship, he may not get away with as much.
He played his guts out in the playoffs – as he usually does. But I noticed a significant dip in speed and athleticism. It’s almost like he relied on positioning than reactions.
I will still root for PJ Tucker in Miami (I have nothing against ex-Rockets), he is one of those guys real fans can’t help but like. I always see people who only look at stats criticizing his lack of performance, although his three-point shooting has definitely gotten worse lately. I also want him to help the Heat make the playoffs so the Rockets can swap the first round pick they get from Brooklyn for Miami’s (which they can’t if the Heat are in the lottery).
For anyone who disputes the first (xxx), I have always disliked Westbrook.
Lakers have 2 oldest on top 4
Warriors have 2 youngest on top 7
Rockets have 4 of the youngest top 11, although it will likely drop to 3.