LeBron James says he plans to play in all 82 games this season, and he wouldn’t be first 40-year-old to do so

The Los Angeles Lakers continued their strong start to the 2024-25 season on Friday night, as they rallied back from a 22-point deficit in the first half to defeat the Phoenix Suns, 123-116. This is the first time they’ve been 2-0 since 2010-11, and they’ll look to make it 3-0 on Saturday when they face the Sacramento Kings. 

Despite an early back-to-back, they will do so with a full lineup. Most notably, LeBron James said he will be in action. In fact, James said he expects to play in all 82 games this season. 

“Yeah. I plan on playing every game,” James said after putting up 21 points, four rebounds and eight assists on 7 of 13 shooting in 35 minutes against the Suns. “We’ll see what happens. You never know. We’ll see what happens if I don’t.”

James, who will turn 40 years old in December, played 71 games last season, his most since his 2017-18 campaign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, when he played all 82 games for the first and only time in his career. There’s very little chance he does so again this season, but that quote speaks to his mindset.

As we saw last season, when the Lakers tried to put James on a minutes restriction that lasted just one game, he has no desire to coast through the waining years of his career. In a new documentary, “Starting 5,” which was released on Netflix earlier this month, cameras caught what James told the Lakers’ coaching staff about the plan. 

“I know you got me on f—ing old man time percentages and shit,” James can be seen telling Lakers assistant coaches during a timeout against the Nuggets last Oct. 24. “Play eight minutes and shit. Two shots in eight minutes, just getting cardio. I hate this shit already, this shit’s garbage.”

For what it’s worth, playing all 82 games at age 40 or later has actually been done. John Stockton suited up in every game at 40 years old in 2002-03. Here’s a look at every instance in which a 40-year-old has played at least 65 games in a season and qualified for the minutes per game leaderboard. 

Stockton played 27.7 minutes per game that season, though, which is much less than the 34.5 James has averaged through the first two games of this season.