A. C. Green

The Los Angeles Lakers, fresh from winning an NBA championship, selected Green in the first round as the 23rd overall pick in the 1985 NBA draft.[3]

Green led the Lakers in rebounding for six of his eight years on the team. Led by Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles captured back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988, Green's second and third years with the squad. In the two campaigns combined, he averaged 11.1 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting better than .500 from the field. Green also reached the NBA Finals with Los Angeles in 1989 and 1991. Green was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 1988–89, was voted a starter on the 1990 Western Conference All-Star Team and finished fourth in the league in field goal percentage in 1992–93 at .537.

Green left the Lakers in 1993 to sign with the Phoenix Suns as a free agent. The Suns had just reached the NBA Finals, losing in six games to the Chicago Bulls, and they viewed Green as the missing piece to their championship puzzle. Green posted a career-high average of 14.7 points per game in 1993–94, but the Suns were eliminated in the conference semifinals. In 1994–95 he again contributed double-figure scoring and solid rebounding for the Suns, but his playing time and contributions dipped in 1995–96; though he remained the team's second-leading rebounder. His streak of consecutive games played almost ended during a game with the New York Knicks when J. R. Reid intentionally elbowed him in the face. Green lost two teeth and sustained a head injury but was still able to continue on with his streak by wearing a protective mask and only playing a couple of minutes a game for a few weeks.

Green, Sam Cassell, and Michael Finley were traded two months into the 1996–97 season to the Dallas Mavericks in a deal that brought Jason Kidd, Loren Meyer and Tony Dumas to Phoenix. In Dallas, Green brought reliable rebounding to the rebuilding Mavs. He tied Shawn Bradley for the team lead in rebounding in 1997–98 with 8.1 rpg, but his season highlight came on November 20 against Golden State when he played in his 907th consecutive game, becoming the league's all-time iron man, surpassing Randy Smith's mark of 906 consecutive games played.[5]

Green played in his 1,000th consecutive game on March 13, 1999, against Vancouver, and finished the 1998–99 season at 1,028 in a row and counting. After 14 seasons in the league, Green had missed only three games, all during the 1986–87 season (his second in the league).

On September 1, 1999, Green was traded back to the Los Angeles Lakers for Sean Rooks and a 2000 second-round pick. During his second stint in Los Angeles, he won his last NBA championship with the Lakers by defeating the resilient Sacramento Kings in five games in the first round, his former team the Phoenix Suns also in five games in the second round and finally the talented Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals en route to defeating the Indiana Pacers in six games to win the series and the 2000 NBA Championship, Green's third championship.

Green played his final NBA season with the Miami Heat where he was reunited with Pat Riley. The Heat made the playoffs, where they were swept 3–0 by the Charlotte Hornets.

Green's 1,192 consecutive games played streak began on November 19, 1986, when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio. The streak ended with the last game of his career on April 18, 2001, when the Miami Heat defeated the Orlando Magic in Orlando. In addition to this streak, he also managed to miss only eight games throughout his entire playing career ( all five games of the Western Conference Finals during the 1986 NBA playoffs and three games at the start of his second season).

• ^a Due to a mid-season trade ended up playing a career-high 83 games.