It's funny how things work out sometimes. On October 29th, 2003, LeBron James stepped on an NBA court as an 18-year-old who had graduated high school five months earlier. He was facing the Sacramento Kings, who had the 3rd-best record in the Western Conference the year prior.

On October 29th, 2023, twenty years to the day after his first regular season game, LeBron James stepped on an NBA court as the father of an 18-year-old who had graduated high school five months earlier. He was facing the Sacramento Kings, who had the 3rd-best record in the Western Conference the year prior.

Whether you wanna call this a spooky coincidence just in time for Halloween, or just a genius bit of scheduling by the NBA powers that be, it's still pretty crazy that this is where we're at with LeBron James, who is entering his 21st season in the NBA and still playing at a high level. I personally believe it's the latter, and that the NBA couldn't resist having LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers walk into the Kings arena twenty years to the day that LeBron made his NBA debut. But if you want spooky, we just need to look at this little nugget in a tweet from Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press:

“OK, this is crazy … Oct. 29, 2003: LeBron James' first made NBA shot of his career is a jumper in Sacramento, cutting a Kings lead to 7-6. Oct. 29, 2023: LeBron James' first made shot of the night is a jumper in Sacramento, cutting a Kings lead to 7-6.”

Now that feels more spooky than genius, but really, the most appropriate adjective we could use here is mind-boggling, and I honestly couldn't tell you what's more mind-boggling: the fact that LeBron James, as an 18-year-old, put up 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists in his very first regular season game, or that LeBron James, as a 38-year-old, put up 27 points, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists in his 1,424th regular season game.

Game after game, LeBron James makes some kind of history, which I suppose comes with the territory when you're seemingly aging backwards — by the way, whoever is responsible for putting the “Benjamin Buckets” nickname on LeBron James'  Basketball-Reference page, kudos to you. A job well done.

LeBron may not be the player he was in 2009 (when I started writing about the NBA), or 2012 (when he won his first title), or 2016 (when he won his most important title), but he's still one of the absolute best basketball players in the world, playing against guys who weren't even born when he made his NBA debut twenty long years ago.

It's never a good idea to bet against Father Time, but when the hell is this fight going to end?