It is fairly uncommon to see players come into the league and start right away – let alone play their entire careers without coming off the bench. Kobe Bryant spent most of his rookie year for the Lakers as a reserve for Eddie Jones. Even LeBron James came off the bench for the Cavaliers once. During the 2007-08 season, James returned after missing five games with a sprained index finger in what would be his only game not starting.
HoopsHype used statistics and data from Basketball-Reference dating back to the 1981-82 season to put together a list of the Top 7 players who we know for sure have not come off the bench at any point of their NBA careers. That list had Chris Paul at No. 1 coming into this season, but that top spot belongs now to Damian Lillard.