The player who has played the most consecutive playoff games on the active roster is James second, and the first has never missed the playoffs
The player who has played the most playoff games among active NBA players is undoubtedly James, who has only missed four playoff games in 21 seasons so far in his career, and has never missed a playoff game for 13 consecutive years from 2006 to 2019, which is longer than the career of most players in the NBA. But James is not the player who has played the most consecutive playoff games among active players in the NBA, and the No. 1 player has never missed a playoff game in his career, and is now in his 15th consecutive season.
James entered the league in 2003 and failed to make the playoffs in the first two seasons of his career, only to make his first playoff appearance in 2005-06. Since then, whether with the Cavaliers, Heat, or back with the Cavaliers, James has been a regular in the playoffs until the 2018-19 season when James joined the Lakers, in which he suffered the worst injury of his career so far - a groin strain, so he missed 25 games throughout the season, failed to lead the team to the playoffs, and ended his streak of consecutive playoff appearances.
James has made the playoffs for 13 consecutive years and the Finals for eight consecutive years, which is very rare in the history of the NBA, but it can only be ranked second. The third place is Leonard, who entered the playoffs for 10 consecutive years from 2012 to 2021, whether it was during the Spurs, Raptors or Clippers period, as long as he was not injured, he was as stable as ever In the 2017-18 season, although Leonard did not play for the Spurs in the playoffs, he still made the playoffs. Leonard missed the entire season due to injury in 2021-22, and the Clippers failed to make the playoffs, and Leonard's record of playing the playoffs for 10 consecutive years was interrupted. In fourth place are Brother Alphabet and Lillard, the Bucks led by Brother Alphabet have not missed the playoffs for eight consecutive years from 2017 to the present, and Lillard has played the playoffs for eight consecutive years from 2014 to 2021 until 2022.
The No. 1 player who has never missed a playoff game in his career is James Harden, a player who has won the scoring title for three consecutive years, won the regular season MVP, assists leader, and best sixth man, and was once hailed as the league's best scorer. Harden was the third pick in the first round in 2009, and even if he was drafted by the Thunder, he could only play the role of sixth man on the team, because they already had Westbrook, one of the best guards in the league at the time, and then Harden was traded to the Rockets and gradually grew into the core of the team and one of the best stars in the league at the time. Harden was the absolute boss when he was with the Rockets, but he decided to leave after many failed attempts to reach the Finals, and then went to the Nets, the Philadelphia 76ers, and now the Clippers with Leonard, Paul George, and the former second brother Wei Shao to challenge for the championship.
Harden's personal ability at his peak is not to say, 6 times to the best team, three consecutive years of scoring titles, 2 assist kings and 1 regular season MVP, leading the Rockets to the league's No. 1 regular season record. But in those years of the Rockets, they were suppressed by the Warriors, who were also in their prime, and they have not been able to break out of the West and enter the Finals. Later, due to a disagreement with the team's development concept, Harden has been on many teams over the years, due to age and on-court condition, the team's tactical status has declined, and the scoring ability is not as good as before, and the championship he has been thinking about has not been won, I have to say that he is a tragic hero like Wei Shao, but it is better to join a championship team at the peak like his big brother Durant.