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Ranking the 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old

By Josh Cornelissen

Utah Jazz, Karl Malone(Photo by JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images)
Utah Jazz, Karl Malone(Photo by JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images) /
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David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs. PAUL BUCK/AFP via Getty Images /

David Robinson. 28. player. 29. . C. San Antonio Spurs

The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 28. David Robinson, 2001-02 (36)

The San Antonio Spurs have been one of the consistently great franchises in league history. Beginning in the ABA they made the playoffs in eight of nine seasons. Joining the NBA for the 1976-77 season, they missed the postseason just four times from 1977 to 2019, winning five titles.

The Spurs’ sustained excellence through the 1990s was almost entirely attributable to David Robinson. “The Admiral” was the best player in college basketball at the United States Naval Academy, and after the Spurs took him first overall in the 1987 NBA Draft he served two years with the U.S. Navy. In his rookie season at the age of 24, he scored 24.3 points per game and never looked back.

By the 2001-02 season, Robinson was no longer required to carry the offensive load for the Spurs, with a young Tim Duncan and an even younger Tony Parker around. He averaged 12.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, with an always-solid collection of defensive statistics. He and Duncan anchored a defense that allowed just 90.5 points per game.

Even as Duncan was winning MVP and leading the league in field goals, free throws and rebounds, Robinson was quietly plying his trade as an elite defender, even at 36. He finished seventh in defensive win shares and fifth in defensive box plus/minus. Only Ben Wallace had a lower defensive rating than Robinson’s 94.9 points per 100 possessions allowed.

The Spurs finished with a 58-24 record in an absolutely loaded Western Conference; four teams in the West finished with better records than the New Jersey’s Eastern Conference-best 52. After beating the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round, the Spurs fell to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

The following season would be Robinson’s last, as he was mainly a support player at age 37 as injuries and age finally caught up to him. He would hoist a second championship trophy, however, a victorious end to a brilliant career.