15 best NBA players in their 30s

No, Golden State Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala isn't the same guy who earned NBA Finals MVP in June 2015, but the 34-year-old remains a lockdown defender and the ideal sixth man for a Golden State side expected to win each spring. According to Reuters , Warriors coach Steve Kerr said his side would have eliminated the Houston Rockets from the 2018 Western Conference Finals in five games had Iguodala not been sidelined because of a bone bruise in his knee. 

You wouldn't know Philadelphia 76ers guard JJ Redick turned 34 years old this past June when you see him constantly moving without the ball and converting 42 percent of his three-point attempts. Per Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia, Redick is willing to embrace a switch to the bench as part of the team's next step of The Process. His behind-the-scenes contributions, as touched upon by Sarah Todd of Philly.com, cannot be discounted. 

Heading into the 2018-19 campaign, Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams has to be the favorite to win Sixth Man of the Year a second straight season and for the third time of his career. Sure, Sweet Lou can't defend, but the Clippers won't ask him to do so on a nightly basis. The 31-year-old (he turns 32 later this month) notched a career-high 22.6 points per game off the bench last year. He should once again thrive in a similar role.

A wrist injury cost Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap 44 games of his first season with the club. The duo of Millsap and Nikola Jokic looks formidable on paper, but Millsap's preseason shooting woes are raising eyes, as Mathew Huff of Nugg Love explained. Denver needs the 33-year-old healthy, shooting 33 percent from beyond the arc and at his defensive best for more than a few months. 

Obviously, those running the Dallas Mavericks wish they had the version of DeAndre Jordan from three years ago rather than who the 30-year-old is as of the middle of October 2018. Jordan showed last season he was capable of being a similar offensive force without both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in the Los Angeles Clippers lineup. Jordan dropped off defensively during his final season with the Clippers, but only Andre Drummond finished the campaign with more rebounds per game. 

In May 2018, Joe Beguiristain of NBA.com referred to Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic as his team's "most steady player from beginning to end." The 32-year-old named to his first All-Star appearance last February led the Heat in points (17.3) and assists per game (4.8). He also contributed a career-best 4.1 rebounds per contest. 

As Matt Moore of CBS Sports wrote last November, the rift between Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol and coach David Fizdale  allegedly resulted in Fizdale's ouster. Gasol merely remaining in the lineup won't be enough for the Grizzlies to take steps back toward relevance. The 33-year-old undeniably is no longer capable of winning Defensive Player of the Year as he did five years ago, but he makes up for those deficiencies by being a massive "quarterback" capable of draining threes and finding guards with pinpoint passes. 

Mike Conley's career-best 2016-17 campaign faded from memories after he missed all but 12 games last season. At best, the Memphis Grizzlies guard is a potential All-Star and a proven floor general. Is the 31-year-old who has missed 109 games over the past three years capable of remaining healthy long enough to get back to that level?

Al Horford isn't the first, second or even third name you think of when listing reasons why the Boston Celtics could win it all next June. As Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe wrote in April, the Celtics finished the 2017-18 regular season with a league-best defensive rating of 101.5, and Horford should compete for Defensive Player of the Year honors if Boston repeats that feat a second straight year. The 32-year-old will take a backseat to others in the lineup as long as they remain healthy for longer than five minutes of action. Even still, Al is average no more. 

Thirty-two-year-old Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry is a four-time All-Star who earned his first nod when he was closer to 30 than to 25. Both his points and minutes per game dipped in 2017-18, and the addition of Kawhi Leonard could remove any excess weight of expectations from Lowry's shoulders. Leonard looking to silence critics and potentially play for contract offers from the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers could do wonders for Lowry come springtime. 

Remember all of the drama over San Antonio Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge potentially leaving the franchise? That ended when the 33-year-old agreed to a three-year contract extension, and he responded to that deal by averaging 23.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. The departure of Kawhi Leonard following the 2017-18 season officially made the Spurs Aldridge's team regardless of the arrival of DeMar DeRozan. 

As great as James Harden performed in 2017-18, the addition of Chris Paul in June 2017 made the Houston Rockets a side capable of dethroning the Golden State Warriors in a Western Conference Finals. We'll never know what would have happened had a hamstring problem not prevented the 33-year-old from playing in the final two games of that series. In April 2017, Bill Simmons of The Ringer wrote about "The Last Days of the Point God." Paul is no longer with the Los Angeles Clippers, but those days aren't over quite yet. 

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry will never be as physically imposing as Kevin Durant or LeBron James, but the 30-year-old remains the cornerstone of what may be the best roster in league history. The greatest shooter anybody's ever seen will keep the Warriors favorites to remain atop the conference standings beyond this season even if it's the last that Durant is with the club. Curry does have a history of ankle injuries, as Ian McMahan of The Guardian explained, and one can't help but wonder if it will be his own body, and not transactions around the NBA, that will prematurely end his run of dominance. 

A newer member to the club, Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant turned 30 years old in September. The two-time reigning NBA Finals MVP is the league's most complete scorer — there's no stopping the 6-foot-9 Durant when he's draining 4-of-10 three-pointers on a nightly basis — and some would say he's a better closer in October 2018 than the man atop this list. Call him a snake. Think whatever you will about his much-publicized exit from the Oklahoma City Thunder and his pursuit of rings. At this time next year, Durant may be the undisputed best player in the NBA.

It's ironic that LeBron James has an affinity for fine wine, because he ages like one. The 33-year-old who joined the Los Angeles Lakers in July played in all 82 regular-season games during the final campaign of his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he carried what sometimes appeared to be a kicking-and-screaming team to a fourth-straight NBA Finals appearance. Logic tells us Father Time will eventually slow the three-time champion. But adding Kevin Durant to the Lakers, if that is the plan, would likely slow that process.