I know, but that’s the ridiculous part. He’s not much more likely to get injured than a 44 year old who’s an active player, so long as he trains like any other 44 year old. LeBron is still dunking on people at 41 (well, as of 12/30). That’s not to say that either Rivers or Bron aren’t extremely old for any professional sport, or that he’s going to be only a fraction of the quarterback he was when retired. But, no one talks about Bron as an old man.
The difference is that we are watching LeBron evolve with age in real time, and there’s a four (?) year gap between Rivers then and now.