Bub Carrington’s Ironman Streak Isn’t About the Numbers - It’s Just Who He Is
When the Washington Wizards tip off against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night, Bub Carrington will quietly hit a milestone that most NBA players never touch: his 125th consecutive regular-season game.
He’s not making a big deal out of it - and that’s exactly the point.
At just 20 years old, Carrington has already carved out a reputation as one of the league’s most durable young players. His streak is the fourth-longest active run in the NBA, trailing only Mikal Bridges, Harrison Barnes, and Julian Champagnie. In a league where load management and minor injuries often sideline even the best, Carrington’s consistency is a rare throwback - a nod to a time when suiting up every night was just part of the job.
But don’t expect Carrington to wax poetic about his streak. For him, it’s not about chasing numbers or building a personal brand. It’s about showing up - every day, every game, no excuses.
“I don’t see it as a streak,” Carrington said. “This is my job. I made it this far so I can play basketball every day.”
That mindset didn’t come out of nowhere. Carrington grew up in Baltimore, a city that reveres the idea of showing up - just ask anyone who’s ever heard the name Cal Ripken Jr. But Carrington’s work ethic was shaped even more intimately by his late father, Carlton “Big Bub” Carrington Jr., a respected youth basketball coach known for his no-nonsense approach to the game.
From an early age, Carrington was the undersized kid with oversized drive. As a 5-foot-7 freshman in high school, he wasn’t outmuscling anyone.
So he outworked them. That meant 5:30 a.m. defensive slide drills in the sand, building speed, agility, and grit - the kind of work that doesn’t show up on a box score but lays the foundation for everything else.
“We had a plan,” Carrington said. “I was a skinny kid, a late bloomer.
Lifting weights wasn’t going to help me at a young age. It was the running.”
That plan followed him to college, where he spent one season at the University of Pittsburgh. Panthers head coach Jeff Capel remembers a player who had to be told to stop working out so much. On game days, Carrington would squeeze in a solo workout in the morning, then a team shootaround, then more shooting afterward, and then another pregame warmup.
Eventually, Capel had to step in and tell him to dial it back - not because the work ethic was a problem, but because Carrington was burning himself out.
“He understood work,” Capel said. “He wasn’t afraid of it, and he fell in love with the process at a pretty young age.”
That love hasn’t faded in the NBA. Earlier this month, the Wizards landed in Phoenix after a nearly five-hour flight from D.C.
It was the start of a West Coast road trip, and most players might’ve opted for rest. Carrington?
He was in the gym that night, playing one-on-one with fellow rookie Tre Johnson during an optional workout.
That’s the thing with Carrington - optional doesn’t mean optional. It just means another chance to get better.
And the numbers back up the work. On Monday, Carrington became only the eighth player in NBA history to record at least 500 rebounds and 500 assists before turning 21.
Since the 2015-16 season, only 73 players have logged 125 or more straight regular-season games. Carrington is about to be the 74th.
Wizards teammates aren’t surprised.
“That’s who he is,” said Kyshawn George, who played against Carrington in college and entered the league with him in the 2024 draft class. “His desire to go out there and compete every single night - that’s just who he is.”
Veteran Khris Middleton echoed that sentiment.
“You can tell he’s happy about it,” Middleton said. “He loves being out there.
He loves the tough moments. He loves the great moments.
That’s a big sign that he loves the process.”
Last season, Carrington led all rookies in total minutes with 2,458 - a staggering number for a first-year player. But there were moments when it looked like the streak might end.
On Dec. 30, 2024, Carrington took a hard fall and hit his head on the court while defending against the Knicks.
He was wheeled off but cleared concussion protocols. Two nights later, with a knot on his head, he logged 31 minutes and helped lead the Wizards to a win over the Bulls.
Then came March 20, 2025 - the day his father passed away after a battle with cancer. The very next night, Carrington suited up and played 26 minutes in a loss to the Magic, with family and friends watching from the stands.
“Those two games specifically, for sure, and a few other times, yeah, I’ve thought about [not playing],” Carrington admitted. “But it’s not in me to give up, and it definitely wasn’t how I was raised.”
He paused, then added a line that says everything you need to know about him.
“My parents, and my dad specifically, used to tell me a lot, ‘Your best ability is availability.’”
Carrington has taken that to heart. He’s not chasing records.
He’s not looking for headlines. He just loves basketball - and he shows it the only way he knows how: by lacing up his sneakers and stepping on the court, night after night.
For Carrington, playing every game isn’t a streak. It’s just normal.