For a third consecutive year, veteran center Udonis Haslem is set to enter the NBA season as the oldest player on any of the league’s 30 rosters. Haslem, who turned 42 in June, was born three-and-a-half years before any other active NBA player and is the only active player in his 40s.
Haslem’s teammate Kyle Lowry is also one of the top 10 oldest players currently on an NBA roster, making the Heat the only team with two players in the top 10.
Lowry is one of several new additions to this list this year due to the fact that many of last year’s oldest players – including Carmelo Anthony, Paul Millsap, Trevor Ariza, and LaMarcus Aldridge – remain unsigned.
It’s possible that one or more of those free agents could sign before opening night or that one or more of the players on the list below could be waived when regular season rosters are set in mid-October, but here’s the current list of the oldest players in the NBA heading into the ’22/23 season:
- Udonis Haslem, Heat (born 6/9/1980)
- Andre Iguodala, Warriors (born 1/28/1984)
- LeBron James, Lakers (born 12/30/1984)
- P.J. Tucker, Sixers (born 5/5/1985)
- Chris Paul, Suns (born 5/6/1985)
- Taj Gibson, Wizards (born 6/24/1985)
- Kyle Lowry, Heat (born 3/25/1986)
- George Hill, Bucks (born 5/4/1986)
- Goran Dragic, Bulls (born 5/6/1986)
- Garrett Temple, Pelicans (born 5/8/1986)
Al Horford (Celtics), Rudy Gay (Jazz), and Jeff Green (Nuggets) are among the other NBA veterans who turned 36 years old this year but just missed the cut.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, all of this year’s youngest NBA players were either members of the 2022 draft class or signed as rookie free agents after going undrafted.
The only team with multiple players on the list of the NBA’s 10 youngest players is San Antonio — the Spurs actually have three players on the list and just missed a fourth, as rookie Blake Wesley is about two months too old to qualify for the top 10.
Here are the 10 youngest players currently on NBA rosters:
- Jalen Duren, Pistons (born 11/18/2003)
- Trevor Keels, Knicks (born 8/26/2003) *
- AJ Griffin, Hawks (born 8/25/2003)
- Nikola Jovic, Heat (born 6/9/2003)
- Shaedon Sharpe, Trail Blazers (born 5/30/2003)
- Dominick Barlow, Spurs (born 5/26/2003) *
- Ousmane Dieng, Thunder (born 5/21/2003)
- Jeremy Sochan, Spurs (born 5/20/2003)
- Jabari Smith, Rockets (born 5/13/2003)
- Malaki Branham, Spurs (born 5/12/2003)
Note: Players marked with an asterisk (*) are on two-way contracts.
Dieng and Sharp will be the first All Stars out of this list. Smith will be a late bloomer.
Going to hard for either Sharpe or Dieng to even crack the rotation while Smith can already get his shot off from anywhere and will be a near elite defender and start at the 4 on day 1.
Would be helpful if you could include their current age next to their DoB
I know, durned maths!
Holy crap Luke! Good article, as usual, but just when you think you’ve provided us a cool piece you go and ignore that someone like jawn is too lazy to think/subtract on his own. Here’s an idea jawn, figure the age of the youngest and then easily add/estimate the remaining ages. Do the same for the oldest. For example, duren will be 19 on November 18, so he’s about 7 weeks shy of 19. Keels turned 19 about a month ago. And so on. Btw Luke, next article I’d like to know a player’s birth sign.
Lol
Thank you, Udonis for being older than me. Everyone else can kiss my ass, lol. Damn young whippersnappers.
2/3 of the youngest list are going to be busts.
Only Jovic is gonna be a star in that group as a matter of fact!