Before the NBA season ended, I had a casual chat with Bulls general manager Gar Forman.

It’s a GM’s duty to study basketball and its permutations the way a naturalist studies an anthill. For an outsider to tap into that focus is always enthralling.

Forman doesn’t spew his deepest thoughts or really say anything that might affect his team beyond the obvious. In that regard, he has some Jerry Krause in him, if not the Sleuth’s dubious personal skills.

But there are stats for everything in basketball, philosophies for everyone, and then there are the games and the players and the emotions right before the GM. There is the salary cap and the unknown of injuries. There is the coaching staff you have to hire, the college kids to look at. And it’s all moving, all the time.

All a GM has to do is figure it out and put together the best team in the world.

Earlier in the season, I had asked Forman about the universally endorsed notion that point guard Derrick Rose, just 22, will get better and better. This was before Rose was named MVP of the league and, yes, before Forman shared the NBA Executive of the Year Award with Miami Heat president Pat Riley.

What I said to Forman, basically, was: How does anyone know for sure?

He had nodded and mentioned, without much comment, that there were some stats he had looked at, some analysis he recently had read, that shined some light on that question.

Now, during this chat in late May, courtside at the Berto Center, he said, ‘‘Let me go upstairs and see if I can find it.’’

In time, he came down with a two-page printout with a photo of LeBron James at the top. There was no dateline, but the brief piece seemed to have appeared in the Wall Street Journal a year or so ago, and it was done by reporter David Biderman.

James’ best is behind him?

‘‘LeBron James turns 25 next Wednesday, which means one thing: He’s about to get worse,’’ the story began. ‘‘Ignore his gaudy statistics, and never mind that many analysts consider him the best player on the planet. By one statistical measure, Mr. James is just a week from being over the hill.’’

OK. Clearly, the piece was a year and a half old because James, whose birthday is Dec. 30, is now 26.

But the meat of the thing was stunning: According to David Berri, a professor of applied economics at Southern Utah University and the author of the book Wages of Wins: Taking Measure of Many Myths in Modern Sports, NBA players peak at 24 and basically stay at that level until they turn 25, at which point they start declining.

The article continued: ‘‘Mr. Berri’s research, which examined every player from 1977-2008, says the statistical output of the average 24-year-old is equal in value to six wins per season for his team if he plays 35 minutes a night. From then on, the average player keeps getting worse each year until age 35, at which point he begins costing his team wins.’’

And the kicker, with stats scattered about: ‘‘Mr. James seems to fit the statistical model perfectly. . . . The downfall has begun.’’

After the recent fade by the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, what can we say?

But stats can do darn near whatever you want them to. Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki will be 33 in three days, for instance.

And fellow champ Jason Kidd, for God’s sake, he’s older than tumbleweed. Well, 38.

And how can anyone explain, at any age, the Mavericks’ starting combo of J.J. Barea and Kidd, one being kindergarten-sized and the other being AARP-aged? And both being point guards?

You can’t. Intangibles everywhere, including an innovative coach, Rick Carlisle, who would put such an outrageous lineup on the floor.

Improving MVP — just maybe

So what is going through Forman’s opaque mind as the draft nears?

We don’t know, but this age thing seems to bode well for the Bulls. Rose is 22. Joakim Noah is 26. Luol Deng is 26. Taj Gibson is 25. Omer Asik is 24.

The Heat, the Eastern Conference team to beat, has James, 26, Chris Bosh, 26, and Dwyane Wade, 29.

Could the Big Three all be in decline?

But above all, if the little tidbit Forman pondered was correct, Rose will get better.

An improved MVP. That’s something.

But as Forman surely knows, numbers can mean little. Even can be lies in disguise.

To wit, Michael Jordan was 35 when he led the Bulls to their sixth NBA title in 1998. Scottie Pippen was 32. Ron Harper was 34. Dennis Rodman was 37.

But if LeBron and Co. actually have peaked? And Rose will be a better player two years from now?

No wonder a GM’s brain never stops spinning.