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For basketball players in the National Basketball Association (NBA), playing 500 consecutive regular season games is considered a highly significant achievement. This is often referred to as an "iron man streak".
As of the 2024–25 NBA season, 22 players have played at least 500 consecutive regular season games in their NBA career. The all-time leader of consecutive games is A.C. Green, who played in 1,192 consecutive games during his career. [1] Mikal Bridges is the current active leader, having played 556 games consecutively (as of April 13th, 2025). [2] If ABA games were to be included, Ron Boone would have 1,041 consecutive games played with 379 games from his time in the NBA.
^ | Denotes player who is currently active in the NBA | ||||
* | Denotes player who has been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame | ||||
Denotes a streak that is currently in progress | |||||
Games (in bold text) | Denotes a streak that began at their NBA debut |
Rank | Name | Games | Start | End | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | A.C. Green | 1,192 | November 19, 1986 | April 18, 2001 | Last game missed was when he was a DNP-CD in his sophomore season. He never missed a game due to injury. |
2 | Randy Smith | 906 | February 18, 1972 | March 13, 1983 | Missed 6 games in his rookie season for undisclosed reasons (most likely DNP-CD's as they were spread out on random days not connected), with the last one being on February 15th, 1972. In the 1983-84 season, he missed a game while waiting to clear waivers, technically stopping his streak. He then retired following the season. If it had been allowed to continue, he would have had 921 games by the end. |
3 | Red Kerr | 844 | October 31, 1954 | November 5, 1965 | First game he ever missed in his entire career was a deliberate DNP-CD by the Baltimore Bullets' first-year coach Paul Seymour, allegedly to "take off the stress" from Kerr, just 10 games into what would become his final season. A game the Bullets coincidentally lost regardless of Kerr's benching, after which Kerr's wife, Betsy, wanted to punch Seymour in the nose. [3] |
4 | Michael Cage | 736 | April 23, 1989 | April 14, 1998 | Hamstring injury [4] |
5 | Dolph Schayes* | 706 | February 17, 1952 | December 26, 1961 | |
6 | Bill Laimbeer | 685 | October 24, 1980 | January 27, 1989 | Suspension [5] |
7 | Harry Gallatin* | 682 | November 20, 1948 | March 9, 1958 | Retirement |
8 | Andre Miller | 632 | January 26, 2003 | December 5, 2010 | Suspension [6] |
9 | John Stockton* | 609 | February 13, 1990 | April 20, 1997 | Knee injury [7] |
Jack Twyman* | November 5, 1955 | October 29, 1963 | |||
11 | James Donaldson | 586 | February 18, 1981 | April 6, 1988 | Suspension [8] [9] |
12 | B.J. Armstrong | 577 | February 8, 1990 | February 16, 1997 | Knee injury [10] |
13 | Terry Tyler | 574 | October 13, 1978 | April 14, 1985 | Free agent at start of 1985-1986 season. |
14 | Mikal Bridges ^ | 556 | October 17, 2018 | present | |
15 | Shandon Anderson | 543 | January 30, 1997 | January 21, 2004 | DNP-CD [11] |
Karl Malone* | December 18, 1991 | April 8, 1998 | Suspension [12] | ||
17 | Otis Thorpe | 542 | January 4, 1986 | April 19, 1992 | Kidney injury [13] |
18 | Derek Fisher | 538 | April 15, 2005 | March 14, 2012 | Traded to Houston Rockets, [14] streak ended seeking buyout with team [15] |
19 | Jim Chones | 528 | February 2, 1975 | November 5, 1981 | |
20 | Hersey Hawkins | 527 | January 15, 1993 | December 8, 1999 | Torn calf muscle [16] |
21 | Mark West | 521 | April 9, 1988 | December 14, 1994 | [17] |
22 | Bruce Bowen | 500 | February 28, 2002 | March 12, 2008 | Suspension [18] |