Today’s Big Story

How Long Will LeBron Go?

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will miss start of NBA season

In the world of elite sports, it seems like the phrase “past your prime” is rapidly being redefined. Serena Williams won the Australian Open at 35 (while pregnant). Rafael Nadal became the oldest French Open champion at 36. And LeBron James, who will be 41 in December, is now the oldest player currently playing in the NBA and is still dominating in game, having won the inaugural NBA Cup with the LA Lakers in 2023.

It’s clear that athletes are staying competitive for longer and pushing the boundaries of peak performance. But how? Research backs the shift. A study on Olympic athletes found that between 1992 and 2021, the average age of male Olympians rose from 25 to 27, and female athletes from 24 to 26. In football, a study of UEFA Champions League players found the average player age rose by nearly two years between 1992 and 2018.

The Conversation says that smarter training plays a big role. Modern athletes benefit from personalised training programmes informed by cutting-edge sports science. Tools like GPS tracking, heart rate variability (HRV), and biomarker analysis help coaches monitor performance, recovery and injury risk.

But that’s not to say injuries or time won’t catch up eventually. LeBron will miss the start of the regular NBA season due to sciatica on his right side, the team announced Thursday. The Lakers say he be evaluated for a return in three to four weeks, potentially putting James in line to take the court as early as Oct. 29 against the Minnesota Timberwolves or Oct. 31 against the Memphis Grizzlies.

While the team is currently in the middle of preseason play (which began on Oct. 3) James, however, has not participated in a full practice or a preseason game yet. This will be his 23rd season in the NBA. After missing over 20 games in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, James played in at least 70 games in each of the last two years. When asked by reporters Thursday if James would be ready to take the court soon, Los Angeles head coach J.J. Redick said, “He’s on his own timeline.”

Both Sides Dig In

White House declines to engage Democrats as shutdown drags into second week

Eight days into the government shutdown, Senate Democratic communications directors received a private briefing and a memo from pollster Geoff Garin. The crux of the message: Stay the course because Democrats are winning the battle of public opinion. “Voters continue to blame Trump and Republicans more than Democrats for the shutdown,” said the memo, which was obtained by NBC News and featured new polling data conducted by Hart Research, with findings that are backed by other public national surveys on the shutdown fight.

According to the Washington Post, Trump and his aides have still not engaged with Democrats at all. The White House has warned of imminent mass firings of federal workers and “irreversible” budget cuts if a shutdown occurred, though Trump officials have yet to enact those policies. Trump and his deputies have already had to authorize special funding for a food program for women and children that’s set to soon run dry. The president in a Cabinet meeting Thursday said his administration will “be making cuts that will be permanent” as a result of the shutdown, but did not elaborate on when that would begin.

The Wall Street Journal reports that despite rising tensions, Republican and Democratic senators are trading ideas on healthcare funding to forge a path out of the shutdown. The informal talks include extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies with new income caps. However, the Senate wrapped up late Thursday and won’t return until Tuesday, and it isn’t clear when the House will come back in session—meaning the shutdown is almost certain to stretch through a second weekend.

Dominion Voting Sold

It was bought by a former GOP election official who says he’ll push for paper ballots

Dominion Voting Systems—the voting machine behemoth that President Donald Trump and his allies constantly attacked after the 2020 election—has been sold to a Missouri-based company run by a former Republican election official. It will be rebranded as Liberty Vote, the new company announced Thursday.

Dominion is one of the biggest election equipment providers and was used by 27 states during the 2024 election. You may recall that Trump and his supporters, including Rudy Giuliani, falsely blamed Dominion for rigging elections—taking votes from Trump. The baseless claims caused one of its executives to go into hiding, led to numerous defamation lawsuits and Fox News shelling out a massive $800 million settlement for extensively broadcasting the false claims.

The company’s new owner laid out four goals, many of which align with the Trump administration, that they argue will restore trust in U.S. elections, the main being a heavy emphasis on using paper ballots. They also vowed to follow the executive order Trump signed last spring, seeking sweeping changes to election policies that multiple judges have put on hold for violating the Constitution.

A Weekend Pairing

‘The Chair Company‘ + a Vesper Martini

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