Prime Time: LeBron’s career at apex

Published 11:32 pm Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Forget the million dollars offered by Magic Johnson to LeBron James to compete in the dunk contest and the half hour of acrobatic exploits that constitute the once-a-year festivity during NBA All-Star weekend.

Or the here today, gone tomorrow fads such as the Harlem Shake, “Linsanity” and “Tebowing.”

Instead, tune in to something better: arguably the country’s best athlete in primetime, several days a week.

When you look back at your favorite athletes or entertainers, what moments stand out? Likely the one’s during their prime years. For some of the greatest basketball players ever, the ripe ages from 27-28 seem to be the peak years.

Ala Michael Jordan in the summer of 1991, gliding down the lane, moving the basketball from his right to the left hand and finishing off a move that famed announcer Marv Alberts described as “spectacular” against the Los Angeles Lakers en route to his first NBA title at the same age of 28.

James finds himself doing the same thing, at the age of 28 impressing on a night-to-night basis. The defending champion Heat won their 15th straight game on Monday. James appears on his way to a fourth Most Valuable Player trophy, averaging 27.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.2 assists for the top team in the Eastern Conference.

Kobe Bryant, considered the game’s best winner currently playing, scored 81 points for the Lakers at the age of 27, the second-most points in league history.

Johnson pieced together perhaps his best individual NBA season at the age of 27 when he led the Lakers to the title in 1987, averaging 23.9 points, 12.2 assists and 6.3 rebounds along the way. Johnson stamped his prime season with his now-famous sky hook shot in the NBA Finals to clinch a Game 4 win against arch-rival Boston.

While some sports differ, a general consensus suggests an athletes’ prime to be between the ages of 25-29, the apex of their careers — the years before building up to the crescendo, and the ones after sliding back down the slope toward vincibility.

Sports such as boxing and tennis arguably favor athletes in their early 20s, though most agree the best years where body meets mind occur later during a person’s third decade.

For all the Michael Jordan’s, Magic Johnson’s and LeBron James, however, we sometimes never see the golden years of an athletes’ greatness. For instance, take former Maryland star forward Len Bias, who died of a drug overdose days after being taken by Boston with the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft.

Recall too the most famous boxer to live, Muhammad Ali, and how he went more than three years in between fights from the age of 25-28 after being stripped of his boxing license upon refusing to enter the armed forces. Ali’s exodus occurred with the fighter still unbeaten at the time.

Even Mike Tyson, the most feared fighter of the last 30 years, missed more than four years — from just days before his 25th birthday to the age of 29 — after being convicted of rape. Tyson took a 41-1 record into the hiatus, but never reached his previous form after returning past his prime.

So when the current generation now in their prime years settles into their rockers and reclines to turn back the hand of time and discuss the best from their day, likely a tape of James wearing his No. 6 Miami Heat jersey, not No. 23 for Cleveland, will surface on the television or whatever viewing device will be in order decades from now.

And while James enjoys his prime now, the best is likely yet to come for the Kevin Durant’s and Kyrie Irving’s of the world.

Don’t believe me? Just watch.