You can find Part I here.
We left off in 2010, so here is how the next decade shaped up when it came to aging athletes arriving in the district:
2011-2015: Quantity over Quality
After seeing three Hall of Famers come to Washington, the next period saw just one potential HoFer among a wave of other solid aging talent.
Paul Pierce, the Boston Celtics legend and 2008 Finals MVP, played one season with the Wizards that included one of the greatest playoff moments in recent franchise history. His buzzer-beating bank shot where he famously “called game” against the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the 2015 Second Round was unforgettable, and a moment I was lucky enough to witness in person.
Pierce was gone after one season, but he overlapped with longtime NBA guard Andre Miller, who arrived to DC via trade in 2014 as a 37-year-old backup point guard. Miller was never an All-Star, but he led the league in assists per game (10.9) back in 2001-02 with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he stuck around for 17 seasons in the NBA. He played 79 games across two seasons in Washington.
The Caps added longtime NHL winger Mike Knuble prior to 2011, but he quickly established himself as a valued team leader while still producing on offense. He spent his age 37-39 seasons in Washington, and is best remembered for assisting the Joel Ward overtime winner in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins in the 2012 First Round.
The Caps also added 34-year-old Brooks Orpik before the 2014-15 season, and the former Penguin defenseman eventually became an alternate captain and helped the Caps win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2018 at 37.
The Nats brought in a ton of guys in their mid-30s or older in this period, but the most notable was six-time All-Star Jonathan Papelbon in 2015. The 34-year-old reliever is best remembered in a Nats uniform not for what he did on the field, but for choking Bryce Harper in the dugout towards the end of the 2015 season. He finished 30 games in the 2016 season, losing four games and earning 19 saves in what would be his final year as a Major Leaguer.
The Nats also added three-time All-Star infielder Dan Uggla for the back half of the 2015 season, but the 35-year-old didn’t make much of an impact in what would be his final MLB season as well.
All the way back in 2011, at 43 years old, Matt Stairs spent the 19th and final season of his MLB career with the Nats, making just 74 plate appearances and batting a lowly .183 with no home runs and two RBI. Stairs began his career in 1992 with the Montreal Expos, and coincidentally ended his career with the same franchise.
The most significant Washington Football Team “old guy” signing in this period was safety Ryan Clark. The 2011 Pro Bowler played in Washington in 2004 and 2005 before an eight-year run with the Pittsburgh Steelers that included a Super Bowl championship. Clark returned to Washington in 2014 for his age 35 season, starting 15 games and appearing in all 16 to quietly close out his 13-year NFL career.
2016-2019: The Valley
The years immediately leading up to 2020 did not see as many older players come to Washington, but there were a select few that made a significant impact.
Longtime Phillies reliever and two-time World Series champion Ryan Madson spent parts of 2017 and 2018 with the Nats, bringing varying success in his age 36 & 37 seasons. The following year, three-time All-Star Fernando Rodney won his first World Series at 42 years old in his 17th and final MLB season.
The Wizards, meanwhile, got just nine games from former All-NBA center Dwight Howard in the 2018-19 season when the three-time Defensive Player of the Year was 33 and well-past his prime. Howard dealt with a lingering lower back injury for most of the season and moved on to the Lakers the following year after a forgettable stint in DC.
There were a few Pro Bowlers that arrived in Washington between 2018 and 2019, starting with quarterback Alex Smith. The former first overall pick arrived in Washington before his age 34 season via trade, and is one of the few Washington quarterbacks in the Snyder era that boasts a winning record with the team (11-5).
His return to the field after his horrific and life-threatening leg injury in 2018 was nothing short of inspiring, and even if he doesn’t come back to Washington in 2021, Smith will always be revered for the determination he displayed.
The team also signed legendary running back Adrian Peterson in 2018. The 33-year-old was the team’s starter for two seasons, eclipsing 1,000 yards in 2018. He was cut prior to the 2020 season after the emergence of rookie Antonio Gibson and free agent signing JD McKissic in training camp.
2019 also saw the last-second arrival of three-time Pro Bowler Donald Penn, who filled in as the starting left tackle as Trent Williams sat out the season. Despite being 36, Penn appeared in all 16 games and started 15 in what would be his final NFL season.
As for the Caps, three-time Stanley Cup champion Justin Williams was added to the roster for the 2015-16 season when he was 34, in hopes that his championship pedigree would help Washington get over the hump. After two seasons in which he scored over 20 goals, Williams moved on empty-handed, and the Caps would go on to win the Cup the following year.
2020-present: The Second Spike
These days, ‘spikes’ don’t have a good connotation when it comes to how things are trending, but when it comes to aging stars, it seems the last year alone has seen the greatest uptick in all-time great players coming to Washington on their last legs, especially with the Capitals.
Former first overall pick and 2012 First Team All-Star Ilya Kovalchuk, 36, was brought in at the 2020 trade deadline in an attempt to bolster the team’s third line. A friend of Alex Ovechkin and in search of his first Cup, Kovalchuk had an unproductive stint with the Caps and totaled just five points (1g, 4a) in 15 games with the club.
The Caps then had an eventful offseason bringing in 38-year-old Henrik Lundqvist to serve as a second netminder behind Ilya Samsonov. The 2012 Vezina Trophy winner had spent the past 15 seasons with the New York Rangers, and unfortunately will not play with the Caps this year due to a recently discovered heart condition.
As insurance, the team brought in 39-year-old Craig Anderson as a candidate in net. The 18th-year netminder is currently on the Caps Taxi Squad and has been serving as the backup with Samsonov on the COVID-19 reserve list.
Finally, longtime Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was signed late in free agency and has been a regular on the team’s third defensive pair. The 43-year-old is playing his 23rd NHL season and is the oldest active player in the NHL.
The Washington Football team brought in 2015 First Team All-Pro Thomas Davis as a reserve linebacker. The 37-year-old reunited with former Panthers head coach Ron Rivera in what would be his 15th and final NFL season this past year, but injuries limited him to just seven games.
It may be a stretch to call him “aging” in sports terms, but 32-year-old Russell Westbrook was notably traded to the Wizards in exchange for longtime franchise cornerstone John Wall. The Wizards have had a rough start to 2020-21 as a whole, and despite Westbrook dropping a triple-double in each of his first four games, the former MVP seems beyond his prime. There’s time for things to turn around, but Westbrook is yet another big name coming to DC after their peak.
And finally (for now), the Nationals added three-time World Series champion Jon Lester to their starting rotation. As mentioned in Part One, Lester should slide in as the fourth starter. The 37-year-old is just seven wins shy from the 200 career wins milestone, and has a great chance to reach it with the Nationals this year.
Over the past 20-plus years, Washington has proven to be a beacon for over-the-hill stars, and while not every player mentioned was among the best of the best in their sport, you’d be hard-pressed to find another city with this type of Leisure World-level attraction.
Cover Photo Credit: Jasen Vinlove/USA TODAY Sports
The Wildcard 