The NBA has only one active 39-year-old this season ... and his name is LeBron James

The new all-time scoring king, who leaves 38-year-olds Chris Paul, P.J. Tucker and Taj Gibson behind with this birthday, is the league's oldest player for the first time. How much longer will he play?

Gordie Howe played in an NHL game at the age of 52.

You feel pretty safe saying that LeBron James won't match that.

Notice the use of won't rather than can't. Ruling it out completely seems especially unwise given what we’re seeing from James as he turns 39 on this Saturday. He’s the league's oldest player for the first time in his career. Yet he also ranks among the top 10-to-15-ish players in the league — still — in his (gulp) 21st season.

Does he have 13 more years of NBA basketball in him? Fine: Probably not.

Could we goad him into playing long enough to supplant Nat Hickey, who appeared in two games as player-coach for the Providence Steamrollers in 1948 at nearly 46, as the oldest player in NBA history if enough of us shout about that record being out of LeBron's reach?