During a match, the Cleveland Cavaliers jersey hung off of LeBron James’ 18-year-old body like an open parachute, pulling away from his back as he raced down the court with the ball on his way to a violent encounter with the rim.

James had played only eight games as a professional when Frank Vogel, then an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics saw James’ name on the NBA scouting report. Talking about James, Vogel said that it’s been more than 17 years and the details are fuzzy now. One thing about competing against that teenager is still etched in the Lakers coach’s mind. “I didn’t really believe his age,” Vogel said on a videoconference.

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More than 1,500 games later, people are still in disbelief. As Vogels’s colleagues sat in front of screens and watched the NBA champions and their star James play like this at 36, it still was a lot to take in.

According to Los Angeles Times, when Denver coach Michael Malone watched James on game film this season, he chuckled and said, “How are we going to stop this guy?”  Well, nobody is going to be able to stop him, at least not when he’s somehow better today than he was yesterday, James is still in a prime that’s stretched across the last decade. 

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James has been heard saying a phrase multiple times in the last month, “I’ve just never put a ceiling on my potential,” when he made a convincing case that he’s on his way to becoming the NBA’s oldest most valuable player. Jared Dudley, one of the teammates said, “There’s no one more valuable than LeBron”. There are people like Kevin Durant playing phenomenally, but what “LeBron does on a day-to-day basis, man, it’s unmatched.”

James said that they can still dominate their sport, “We can still play this game at a high level no matter how many miles, how many games, no matter how many doubters, no matter the statistics in our respective profession at our age.”

James has pulled this off by staying at the top of the league longer than any of his peers with a combination of three distinct factors – an ever-evolving skillset, a devotion to his health and fitness, and his ever-expanding mind.

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“I feel like I’m a better player than I was last year,” James said. “I feel like I can beat the defense at any facet once I cross half-court. You have to change with the times.” 

James is in his 18th season now and he is shooting the basketball from deep better than ever, a necessary evolution as the game has embraced high-volume three-point shooting. In 24 games, James has made 66 three-pointers and has averaged 25.5 points-per-game by becoming a bigger threat from deep.

As the league is changing, James has shot threes more frequently and worked on himself into a player who not only launches a lot but also connects. In the last month’s match, James had made dagger threes against Cleveland, Atlanta, and Detroit. All things considered, the team still prefers James to take those shots.

So far this season, James hasn’t missed a game. It is said that the continuously evolving skills and physical sustainability are married to James’ basketball IQ, which is regarded as special. With James, there’s really been no one before or after. The graph measuring his greatness still moving up as James is playing his best basketball in his 18th season.