Carmelo holds longest active streak of not coming off the bench

No wonder Carmelo Anthony is so adamant about not coming off the bench for whatever team he plays for.

Since entering the Association in 2003, the 10-time All-Star forward has started every single one of his 1,054 appearances in the regular season, including all 72 of his playoff outings.

No other player in the league (minimum: 950 games played) has managed to do the same during that span, including four-time Most Valuable Player and Anthony's fellow 2003 classman LeBron James.

(statistics courtesy: Basketball-Reference.com)

It was on Dec. 11, 2007 while with the Cleveland Cavaliers against the visiting Indiana Pacers when James came off the bench for the only time in his career. The King had missed Cleveland's previous five games with a sprained left index finger, but elected not to start as a means to prevent his teammate Anderson Varejao - who said he didn't want to play for the Cavaliers any longer during a contract holdout - from getting booed by fans.

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Anthony understands there will come a time when he'll need to accept a reserve role, but as he told the Undefeated's Jemele Hill last month, that time isn't now.

There's no guarantee the 34-year-old will start alongside James Harden and Chris Paul now that he's officially a member of the Houston Rockets on a one-year contract. There's a void at the three spot that was once filled by Trevor Ariza, but the decision of who ultimately replaces him in the lineup will fall on Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni, who previously worked with Anthony in New York.

Anthony struggled mightily as a third offensive option with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2017-18 behind Paul George and Russell Westbrook. He averaged fewer than 20 points for the first time (16.2), converted barely over 40 percent of his field-goal attempts, and put forth a negative value over replacement rating (-1.1).