10 years later, an iconic tweet about LeBron James and his f*ckery remains very wrong

“Here comes the oldest player in the league. He’s 32. A miracle,” reads an iconic tweet from Troy Johnson that encapsulates the feeling of watching your favorite pro athletes get “old” when they’re actually younger than you.

It’s usually true, especially in sports like football and basketball, where the wear and tear on one’s body makes a 35-year-old seem like a 50-year-old to the rest of us.

Ten years ago today, a similar tweet followed in the same vein. This one, from Twitter (now X) user @urkle91, made what appeared to be a reasonable prediction about LeBron James’s career arc.

Alas, LeBron’s f*ckery did very much continue. In the 10 years since that tweet, James won two more NBA titles while making 10 NBA All-Star Teams and 10 All-NBA Teams. He’s also averaged at least 24 points per game in each season.

The tweet inadvertently compliments James’s astonishing legacy. It seemed entirely reasonable to assume that he would eventually regress like so many of his contemporaries. Instead, even if he’s no longer the best player in the league, the fact that he’s still as good as he is at age 40 is, as Troy Johnson’s tweet put it, “a miracle.”

Earlier this year, James admitted he was well aware of the f*ckery tweet and appreciated it very much.

“I saw that tweet throughout all of my 30s,” James said on the New Heights podcast. “And I laughed at it so hard every single time.”

LeBron was also keenly aware that @urkle91 also re-posted on his 40th birthday with an all-too-familiar message.

“He’s gonna be real upset when I turn 50,” the 20-time NBA All-Star joked. Or WAS he joking???