Magic Johnson: Magic actually never played an official Laker game at the age of 32. As all Laker and NBA fans know, Magic announced he was HIV positive prior to the start of the 91-92 and retired from basketball. In the previous season, Magic was very close to the age of 32 but you couldn’t tell from his play that he was in any sort of decline in his play.
Sure, he was no longer as an efficient scorer as he was in the early to mid 80’s, but he still was every bit the floor leader. Magic led the underdog Lakers to a 6 game series win in the conference finals over the heavily favored Portland Trail Blazers and set up a much anticipated match up against the Micheal Jordan led Bulls in the NBA Finals. Magic and the Lakers couldn’t overtake the Bulls, who went on to win their first of six championships in the 90’s. But, whatever decline there was in Magic’s game was marginal at worst.
Michael Jordon: We can’t have a Kobe comparison piece without including Michael Jordan. In terms of searching for a positive outlook on a guard playing at a high level at the age of 32, MJ is the ray of hope. MJ, coming off his first of three retirements, starts his first full season since retiring with the Bulls in 95-96.
Just about any accolade you can receive and goal you can reach was met by Jordan in this remarkable season. Jordon led the league in scoring at 30.4 points per game, and his Bulls won a record 72 regular season games. They also won an NBA championship over the Seattle Super Sonics. He won all of the available MVP awards that year, by taking the All-Star, Regular Season, and Finals MVP. There isn’t much more that could have been accomplished in an NBA season, and MJ did this at age 32.