This is a list of oldest and youngest National Basketball Association players. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a men's professional basketball league in North America. The NBA was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA).[1] The league adopted its current name at the start of the when it merged with the National Basketball League (NBL).[2] The oldest person ever to play in the NBA was Nat Hickey, a coach who activated himself as a player for a game two days before his 46th birthday. The youngest player ever to play in the NBA was Andrew Bynum, who played his first game only six days after his 18th birthday. The oldest active player is LeBron James, who is currently old. He is the only active player who was born before 1985. The youngest active player in the NBA is Toronto Raptors center Ulrich Chomche, the 57th overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft, who was born on December 30, 2005.
| Pos | G | F | C | |
| Position | Guard | Forward | Center |
The oldest player ever to play in the NBA was Nat Hickey who played one game in the 1947–48 season when he was 45 years and 363 days old.[3] Hickey, who was coaching the Providence Steamrollers at the time, decided to activate himself and played in a game for the Steamrollers. In his first game as a player for the Steamrollers, he missed all six of his shot attempts and only scored two points from three free throw attempts; he only played in one more game before retiring as a player two days shy of his 46th birthday.[4] The second-oldest player is Kevin Willis, who played 20 seasons (excluding the 1988–89 season he missed due to injury) in the league before he sat out the 2005–06 season and earned a contract with the Dallas Mavericks on April 2, 2007.[5] Willis then played five games for the Mavericks at the age of 44.[4] The third-oldest player is Hall of Famer Robert Parish. Parish, who played with the Boston Celtics in the 1980s, played his last season with the Chicago Bulls at the age of 43.[6] He played in 1,611 regular season games during his 21-year career, more than any other player in NBA history.[4] When the Bulls won the 1997 Finals, Parish became the oldest player ever to win the NBA championship. There are 31 players who played in the NBA after they turned 40. Following the retirements of Udonis Haslem and Andre Iguodala shortly after the 2022–23 season,[7] the oldest active player is LeBron James.
| ^ | Denotes player who is still active in the NBA as of the | ||||
| Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame | |||||
| † | Denotes player who is not yet eligible for Hall of Fame consideration[8] | - | § | 1st time eligible for Hall of Fame in 2026[9] --> |
| width=120px | Player | width=20px | Pos | width=100px | Birth date | width=100px | Last game | width=100px | Age | class=unsortable width=300px | Team(s) played (years) | width=90px | Draft (pick) | class=unsortable | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G/F | Providence Steamrollers | Undrafted | [10] | ||||||||||||
| F/C | 1984 (11th) | [11] | |||||||||||||
| C | 1976 (8th) | [12] | |||||||||||||
| G/F | 1998 (5th) | [13] | |||||||||||||
| † | F/C | Miami Heat (–) | 2002 (Undrafted) | [14] | |||||||||||
| C | 1991 (4th) | [15] | |||||||||||||
| C | 1969 (1st) | [16] | |||||||||||||
| G | 1950 (3rd) | [17] [18] | |||||||||||||
| C/F | 1981 (14th) | [19] | |||||||||||||
| G | Utah Jazz (–) | 1984 (16th) | [20] | ||||||||||||
| F/C | 1979 (165th) | [21] | |||||||||||||
| F | 1985 (13th) | [22] | |||||||||||||
| F/C | Dallas Mavericks (–) | 1998 (9th) | [23] | ||||||||||||
| G | San Antonio Spurs (–) | 1999 (57th) | [24] | ||||||||||||
| C/F | 1980 (35th) | [25] | |||||||||||||
| G/F | 1978 (29th) | [26] | |||||||||||||
| G | 1999 (10th) | [27] | |||||||||||||
| F | 1994 (3rd) | [28] | |||||||||||||
| C/F | 1977 (46th) | [29] | |||||||||||||
| † | G/F | 2001 (10th) | [30] | ||||||||||||
| F | 1995 (10th) | [31] | |||||||||||||
| F/C | 1989 (36th) | [32] | |||||||||||||
| G | 2000 (8th) | [33] | |||||||||||||
| F/C | 1985 (9th) | [34] | |||||||||||||
| F | 1994 (5th) | [35] | |||||||||||||
| G | 1996 (15th) | [36] | |||||||||||||
| G | 1984 (3rd) | [37] | |||||||||||||
| G | 1994 (2nd) | [38] | |||||||||||||
| G | 1999 (8th) | [39] | |||||||||||||
| F/C | San Antonio Spurs (–) | 1997 (1st) | [40] | ||||||||||||
| C/F | 1981 (13th) | [41] |
This list includes active players who are or will be at least 35 years old in the current season or year.
| width=120px | Player | width=20px | Pos | width=110px | Birth date | width=110px | Age | class=unsortable width=330px | Team(s) played (years) | width=90px | Draft (pick) | class=unsortable | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | 2003 (1st) | [42] | |||||||||||||
| F | 2006 (35th) | [43] | |||||||||||||
| G | 2005 (4th) | [44] | |||||||||||||
| F | 2009 (26th) | [45] | |||||||||||||
| G | 2006 (24th) | [46] | |||||||||||||
| G/F | 2009 (Undrafted) | [47] | |||||||||||||
| C | 2007 (3rd) | [48] | |||||||||||||
| F | 2007 (5th) | [49] | |||||||||||||
| F | 2009 (16th) | [50] | |||||||||||||
| F | 2009 (Undrafted) | [51] | |||||||||||||
| G | 2007 (4th) | [52] < | -- | - | C | 2008 (18th) | [53] --> | ||||||||
| G | Golden State Warriors (–present) | 2009 (7th) | [54] | ||||||||||||
| C | 2008 (10th) | [55] < | -- | - | F | 2007 (12th) | [56] --> | ||||||||
| C | 2008 (35th) | [57] < | -- | - | F | 2008 (6th) | [58] ---> | ||||||||
| G | 2009 (55th) | [59] | |||||||||||||
| F | 2008 (5th) | [60] | |||||||||||||
| F | 2007 (2nd) | [61] | |||||||||||||
| G | 2008 (4th) | [62] | |||||||||||||
| F | 2008 (25th) | [63] | |||||||||||||
| G | 2008 (7th) | [64] | |||||||||||||
| Bojan Bogdanović | F | 2011 (31st) | [65] | ||||||||||||
| DeMar DeRozan | G/F | 2009 (9th) | [66] | ||||||||||||
| James Harden | G | 2009 (3rd) | [67] | ||||||||||||
| Markieff Morris | F | 2011 (13th) | [68] < | -- | - | F |