All right, welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume. Happy Wednesday everybody. I hope all of you guys have had a great week so far. We are live on amps. If you're watching on YouTube or listening on the podcast feed, do not forget that amp is the very first place that you guys can get these shows.

We are continuing our player rankings today with number eight, LeBron James, the very first time I've had him outside of my top five. You guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to the volume's YouTube channel. So you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT. So you guys don't miss any show announcements. And if for whatever reason you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish. Don't forget you can find them wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight. All right. Let's talk some basketball. The theme of today's show is going to be about it.

Accepting reality, particularly the reality of age because, you know, today actually happens to be my birthday. And I turned 32 today. And the reality of that is I'm not the same person, human being that I was when I was 25 years old. A lot of positive changes, especially as it comes to life experience and just learning how to navigate the human experience, which can be super challenging with all the responsibilities, both financially and socially.

And with your family and all these different things, but physically you're going to experience a certain amount of decline, right? Like I've noticed that I can't eat the same way I did when I was younger without reaping consequences. I can't drink the same way I did when I was younger without feeling like absolute dog shit for a day. Sometimes even to anymore.

Even when it comes to basketball, I go up to the gym and I see the younger players dunking around between games and before games and I'm over there like, okay, I'll get loose. But if I've got a dunk in me, I'm saving it for the game because I just don't have as many reps left in me as I used to it. I'm only 32.

Mr. LeBron James in December of this year is going to turn 39 years old and that made this the toughest decision I had to make in my top 10 because I was torn between LeBron and one other player player that you guys are going to hear about tomorrow for this number eight spot.

And to be 100% clear, if both players were healthy and we were headed into a playoff series tomorrow with even rosters, I'd pick LeBron over this guy.

And quite frankly, I'd pick him ahead of a couple of guys in front of him even further up the list. But there's a reality that comes with LeBron James's turning 39 this year.

A lot of the reality that you saw throughout the previous four or five years as he's entered into his late 30s. And those were the main reasons that caused me to go with him at eight.

The bottom line is is we don't get perfect circumstances. We don't get to fast forward and just have healthy LeBron in June. That's not how it works. You have to play in 82 game season.

You've got to make it through four playoff rounds. And the guys that I have above LeBron on this list, I just think that in the year 2023 flowing into 2024 are safer bets to be better basketball players within this season.

But let's dive into a quick season recap for LeBron played in 55 games this year dealt with multiple injuries throughout the season.

I think it was a little flare up of his groin and then he had the foot thing, the foot one in particular he played through in the playoffs.

He had a different stress injury and his other foot as well. He was constantly even when he was on the court dealing with different nagging injuries.

LeBron has failed to play in at least 57 games in four of the last five seasons. So again, it's not just projecting forward for LeBron heading into his age 39 season.

It's also the reality of what it's been like for the last several years, although this past season was the first time that stretched into affecting his playoff performance.

It is now at this phase a pretty safe bet that LeBron is going to miss about a third of the season and he's probably going to have something going on physically that's going to be hindering him in some capacity when we get to the postseason again, not a shot at LeBron.

LeBron in his prime was arguably the most dependably available star in the league.

This guy used to be a joke that he could the Bill Simmons used to joke that he could break his leg off in the middle of a game and just reattach it and start playing again.

Obviously that's ridiculous, but you get the point. That's what it was like watching LeBron.

You'd see a replay of him spraining his ankle and his ankle bone would like touch the floor and you'd be like, there's no way he's playing after this, but there he is after the next TV time out back in the game.

Literally never missed a playoff game for an injury over the course of his career. As a matter of fact, still to this day has not missed a playoff game with exception of situations when his team missed the playoff.

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