Age matters

[DFO]

Basketball is definitely a sport for the young. As of the All-Star break 190 players had played 1,000 or more minutes this season. The oldest player on the list was Bruce Bowen at age 36. Only 13 players 33 years or older had reached the century mark in minutes played.

I guess if I was trying to analyze why this is so important you have to look at the very small window of opportunity for the Suns (Shaq and Hill are 35, Nash 34), Celtics (Allen 32, Garnett 31 and Pierce 30), Nuggets (Camby 33, Iverson 32, Martin 30) and Mavs (Dirk 29, Kidd 34, Terry 30, Dampier 32) to win a championship. Not many players continue to make significant contributions in their mid 30s.

Players with a 1000 or more minutes by age:

36 - 1
35 - 2
34 - 2
33 - 8
32 - 12
31 - 13
30 - 8
29 - 10
28 - 18
27 - 30
26 - 12
25 - 16
24 - 13
23 - 16
22 - 12
21 - 14
20 - 2
19 - 1