The NBA is only 5 seamlessly overlapped player-careers old:

[CavaliersFTW]

Joe Fulks (1946-1954) played against Bob Cousy for 4 seasons (1950-1963, 1969)
Bob Cousy (1950-1963, 1969) played with John Havlicek for one season and against him briefly 6 seasons later (1962-1978)
John Havlicek (1962-1978) played against Robert Parish for 2 seasons (1976-1997)
Robert Parish (1976-1997) played against Kobe Bryant for one season (1996-2014)

From the game played today, to the game played when the NBA was a barnstorming league struggling to find its place in American sports as few as 5 players overlapping careers can be used to cover the entire span.

[Rodmantheman]

[HylianNightmare]

That's a long time

[AnaheimLakers24]

kobe da goat

[Marchesk]

Fulks > Lebron and it's not even ...

Oh wait, he's on the Cavs now.

[kennethgriffin]

sure but parish and kobe played like 3 generations worth of years combined

[imdaman99]

What's the story with Cousy? Did he really retire in 63 and come back for a year in 69, 6 years laters????

[CavaliersFTW]

What's the story with Cousy? Did he really retire in 63 and come back for a year in 69, 6 years laters????

For only 6 games but yeah. He was the coach but suited up as player coach for a short stretch.

[L.Kizzle]

What's the story with Cousy? Did he really retire in 63 and come back for a year in 69, 6 years laters????

A few games with the Royals I belive.

[imdaman99]

For only 6 games but yeah. He was the coach but suited up as player coach for a short stretch.

So I'm assuming it was short-lived due to him not being able to keep up with the rigors at an old age? Makes sense, father time is undefeated. Even Magic was a minimal success after he came back after a couple of years.

[CavaliersFTW]

So I'm assuming it was short-lived due to him not being able to keep up with the rigors at an old age? Makes sense, father time is undefeated. Even Magic was a minimal success after he came back after a couple of years.

I don't think he ever intended to play for a season I think he was just trying to give the team a spark or fill a temporary void

[dubeta]

Jordan retired 2003, Lebron entered 2003

Thats the only transition that matters

[wally_world]

Cousy came back to boost ticket sales (which he did) for the struggling Royals. He had a scoring average of <1ppg I remember.

[oarabbus]

Cavs I got two questions:
Do you post on r/NBA? You should post this there and why did Cousy take a 6 year break?

[CavaliersFTW]

Cavs I got two questions:
Do you post on r/NBA? You should post this there and why did Cousy take a 6 year break?

I do post there but not often, I've got a chip on my shoulder against /rNBA I've seen you post on there though many times, I usually just lurk.

Two primary reasons i usually don't post there:

1. Mods delete my video submissions from my Youtube channel if I try to post them due to "self promotion"

2. My videos aren't okay ... but selfies with NBA players at McDonalds or artwork of "check out my new logo-redesigns!" are okay? Double standard not only pisses me off, but the fact that it's a double standard that serves to remove my historically significant footage yet keep stupid ass selfies and fictional logo designs up.

And Cousy didn't take a 6 year break, he retired in 1963. In 1969 he was in his 40's and was the teams coach... he suited up for 6 games as a ploy to boost ticket sales.