Robert Parish played 21 seasons in his career. Haslem was never an outstanding player, but in his prime he was a decent power forward, and then he was a solid bench player in the second half of his career. The Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager, Rob Pelinka, told ESPN that the forward is preparing for the new season as a rookie. He always adapted to his role and fulfilled it, and that's why he stayed in the NBA for 20 years despite being an average player at the best of the cases.
NBA Hall of Famer Robert Parish made his debut in the 1976-77 season with the Golden State Warriors, then played 14 seasons with the Boston Celtics, winning three rings. The fact that he won championships, Olympic gold medals and individual awards at his “older” age (at least in terms of professional basketball) isn't necessarily unique; the incredible thing is that James, who is currently the oldest player on the NBA roster, is still one of the most dominant players in the game. The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Jamal Crawford in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft, but on the same day of the draft, he was traded to the Chicago Bulls, where he played his first four seasons. Unfortunately, Garnett couldn't win a championship with the Timberwolves, but he wasted no time celebrating with the Boston Celtics, winning a ring in his first season with the equipment.
Schmidt, who played for several teams in Brazil, Italy and Spain, as well as for the Brazilian national team, scored 49,737 career points in all his recorded games (he also holds the Olympic record for the most points scored in a single game (5) and the average number of points per game in an Olympic tournament (42). The boy from Akron, as James still calls himself, is no longer a boy, and the 38-year-old enters this season as the most senior player in the NBA. The last player to average double digits in a season as the oldest player in the NBA was John Stockton, who averaged 10.8 points for Utah in 2002-03. However, there are always exceptions, and there have been a handful of players who have stayed in the NBA for a long time, competing at the highest level for 15 or even 20 seasons, which is absolutely admirable. The three-time sixth NBA player played his last three seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets. A study by The Game Day claims to have found the best NBA players of all time, placing Michael Jordan and LeBron James out of the top five.
If James finishes this season and the next (a real possibility, since he has always spoken of his desire to play with his son, Bronny, who is a rookie at USC), he will equal the record for the most seasons played in the NBA (2), currently held by Carter. Chris Finch helped Minnesota finish third in the Western Conference and move to the conference finals in the playoffs. James is one of the fiercest competitors in NBA history, with four rings to his name (he is also one of only three players to have won at least one championship with three different teams).
