At the ripe age of 34, LeBron James of Los Angeles Lakers isn't the athletic freak he once was. Much like that other legendary GOAT that he finds himself unwittingly being compared to, around this age the elite explosiveness started taking a backseat to a more grounded game built on veteran savvy.

Consider this neat little trick James pulled off against the Eastern Conference powerhouse Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.

Nothing fancy, nothing powerful – just a simple pass fake that had Ersan Ilyasova and Eric Bledsoe bamboozled and scampering for the block. Even the finish looks tame by The King's standards with little elevation and not even a basic slam, although the execution is still quite impressive as he switches hands in mid-air for the soft layup.

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Despite his age, the 6-foot-8 forward has been performing exceptionally well putting up ridiculous averages of 26.9 points, a career-best 8.7 rebounds, 7.8 assists, in just a shade over 35 minutes per night. The chink in the three-time NBA champion's armor is arguably in his health as a groin injury made him miss several games for the first time since his 2014-15 return with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Also a first for James is the probability that his team might miss the playoffs for the first time since forever – which is unheard of considering that his name entails a bare minimum of the NBA Finals. The Lakers currently sit at number 10 in the Western Conference, just four games behind the eighth-seeded San Antonio Spurs.

But the gap is pretty close and if there is one thing we have learned from James is to never count him out.