I realize the inevitable: soon, more like very soon, the NBA will pass off to the next generation. These summer league games proved that. The Class of ’96 is on the way out. The teams of the 2000s are sliding off the edge (Spurs, Lakers). It won’t be long before Allen Iverson has some company in the permanent offseason. Ironically, it is these summer league games – runs that don’t even count and that rarely feature a player north of 30 – that have shown me that.

You can see the difference in who plays. While watching “The Big Payback” last night, I started wondering what these games would’ve been like back in the day with a prime VC, a prime T-Mac, a prime KG and a prime Kobe? Just as Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Shawn Kemp, Michael Jordan and the rest of the generation before them, that crew brought their own style. Like any other business, the NBA is a clique. When LeBron James and Dwyane Wade (who will actually be 30 years old in January) want to throw a game, who do they call? Kevin Durant, John Wall, Rudy Gay, etc. They might holler at Kevin Garnett and Steve Nash, but that’s out of respect more than anything else. They have their own generation. The new class of players is breaking the door down.

But that doesn’t mean the old heads still can’t dance. There are some old-timers still doing it (otherwise known as “winning titles”). Here’s my list of the 10 best NBA players who are at least 30 years old (stats courtesy of Hoopdata.com).

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10. Joe Johnson – 30 YEARS OLD
Did he have a terrible year last year? Yes. Was he unbelievably inconsistent in the playoffs? Yes. Did he shoot less than 30 percent from deep? Yes. All true. Johnson isn’t quite the player he once was, but he’s still good enough to get you 20/5/4 routinely. He gets hate for a couple of reasons:
-He’s the perfect Robin masquerading as an alpha
-He could seemingly save all the animals in the world with one game check
-And he’s not really exciting, and plays for a team that’s the definition of “not quite good enough”
No one needs to cry for Johnson. But he’ll bounce back from last season.

9. Tim Duncan – 35 YEARS OLD
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8. Kevin Garnett – 35 YEARS OLD
What made me take KG over Duncan? The Big Swimmer has the advantage in PER (21.97 to 20.72), in rebound rate (18.3 to 17.5) and as a passer (an assist rate of 18.92 to 16.76). But I can’t get that beatdown Z-Bo gave Duncan in the playoffs out of my head. Duncan used to be near impossible to score on in isolation settings in the post. Now, he’s not quite ordinary, but Garnett is undoubtedly better. Outside of Dwight Howard, can you name someone more menacing than KG in that situation? No name sticks out. Both players have similar roles as old sages, but Garnett’s defense gives him the slight edge.

7. Manu Ginobili – 34 YEARS OLD
I can’t be the only one who gets that feeling of “Oooh s—–” every time Manu gets his hands on the ball at the end of a game. Trust, I was rooting for Memphis in the first round last year. The Spurs were never particularly exciting to watch, and now that they’ve ascended to Godfather status, it’s even worse. Give us fresh blood. Yet the presence of Ginobili was like placing a knife against my throat. He’s straight Robert Horry status at this point, only if Horry was three times the player and wasn’t asleep for 40 minutes a game. Every fourth quarter shot I figured would drop. No matter how much Memphis went up by, I figured Manu would do something crazy. I was convinced he’d find a way to beat Memphis. And he almost did. Last season, his shooting numbers dropped even as his minutes increased. It’s obvious Pop is leaning on him more, and while you can’t expect Manu to be efficient, you can expect drama from one of the league’s best competitors.

[Related: The San Antonio Spurs - No Final Rodeo Just Yet]

6. Paul Pierce – 33 YEARS OLD
Maybe because Pierce has played like an old man for the past 10 years, he hasn’t slipped at all. He was overlooked as a younger player – how many of you didn’t put him in the same class as VC/T-Mac/Kobe when he obviously was? – and still is today. Outside of creating shots for others at a lower rate, the Truth is amazingly the same player that helped spearhead Boston’s 2008 championship. When I wrote a feature on Pierce for Dime #62, everyone I talked to reacted the same way to him. Dorell Wright laughed. Mickael Pietrus was silent. Boobie Gibson stumbled. Everyone knew what he did to be successful and yet no one could explain it. I wish it was as easy as not jumping on his right side step-back pump-fake. But if it was, I don’t think he’d still be averaging close to 20 a night.