Presenting Hoop Fit, a new series focused on health and fitness news and hacks that shape the game, brought to you by SPALDING.
This week, we discuss LeBron James’ incredible durability and give you some tips on how to avoid injury and stay on the court.
We’ve never seen a player as durable as LeBron James. The man has played 1,301 of a possible 1,404 regular season games across his career.
Those would be impressive stats even without taking into account the unbelievable strain put on LeBron’s body across 18 seasons of carrying his various teams offensively, defensively and emotionally.
And that’s to say nothing of his 38.3 minute career average, his 260 playoff games (without ever missing one), and all the drastically shortened offseasons that came with playing in 10 Finals, three Olympics and one World Cup.
Other than a groin injury which caused him to miss 17 games in 2018-19, James has never suffered a significant injury. And to top it off, he has retained an incredible amount of his athletic ability for someone who is 36 years old.
Everyone from LeBron’s draft class not named Carmelo Anthony is retired, and most of them have been retired for a very long time. Meanwhile, James is still in his extended prime.
His 49,796 career minutes rank him seventh all-time and he’s just 316 minutes away from jumping into fifth place. Then he will be behind only Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Karl Malone and Kareem Adbdul Jabbar.
Incredibly, he needs to play just four more years after this one to tie Vince Carter’s record of 22 seasons played, and he is expected to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer early in the 2022-23 season, thanks in equal parts to his greatness and longevity.
Bringing LeBron-like Strength to Your Game
LeBron really is one of a kind.
While it is highly unlikely that you’ll be able to achieve the kind of accolades he has in his career, what you can do is apply some of the discipline and approaches that have given him an elite athlete’s body – to your own home court setup.
LeBron is undeniably one of the strongest players in the game. To develop that kind of power, Spalding offers the Strength Jumper – ideal for increasing strength to power your vertical height for shooting and rebounding. The Spalding jump strength training aid bands help you develop explosive power and a strong vertical leap.
The Spalding Lateral Resistor training aid increases the strength of key muscles that help you explode with more power into jumps and rebounds. It’s sized to fit most athletes and can be worn wherever you play the game.
The Spalding Weighted Strength Resistors training aid helps you develop lateral speed and an explosive first step, so you can blow past defenders on game day. It combines resistance bands with detachable ankle weights.
The Spalding Multi–Resistance Trainer training aid enhances hand speed with steady resistance during defensive drills. The resistance bands connect from your waist to your wrist, helping you build passing resistance and increase muscle strength.
Get strong. Get durable.