"Old" Karl Malone Achieved More Than "Old" LeBron James (AOH)

When Over-glazing Ends Up Exposing the Donut...
The recent hype of LeBron becoming the oldest player to get a triple double caused a chain reaction of discovering how superior Karl Malone was late in his career compared to LeBron James.

The historic triple single:

If one were to apply criteria to LeBron’s “historic” triple double at age 41, such as awarding assists according to the NBA’s definition of an assist or to ask the athletes to play with integrity, then we would be looking at a single double, not a triple double.

Three of LeBron’s awarded assists absolutely did not meet the criteria to be considered assists. I would argue that a fourth should also be removed, but conservatively, three should be removed. That removes him from double digits in that category.
By contrast,Karl Malone, who had a triple double at age 40, had 10 assists clearly and inarguably led directly to the receiver of the pass scoring.

The validity of LeBron’s rebounds comes into question for different reasons. If the opposing team isn’t going to try for rebounds and your own teammates have decided ahead of time to help you get rebounds, but not take them for themselves (even when the ball is coming to them) then I have a hard time respecting those rebounds as real statistics.
Making it worse, LeBron James is allowed to float around without a specific defensive assignment, freeing him up to grab the loose ball while his teammates do the hard work. Karl Malone, but contrast, was guarding the previous season’s regular season and finals MVP, Tim Duncan.

LeBron gave a rather strange quote a few weeks back about the “basketball gods being real” and he would never disrespect the game. Well, when you disrespect past players by breaking their records via cheating and manipulation, you are proving that your words are meaningless.



The NBA is a joke. This looks like corruption to serve a political agenda of elevating someone who simply doesn't deserve the accolades. The freebee stats extend to other players too, but with LeBron things are particularly egregious. The excuse that this is all about marketing doesn't wash when the fans are supposed to be watching a competitive sports spectacular. 

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, February 20, 2026.]