The Los Angeles Lakers announced they plan to honor legendary coach Pat Riley with a statue on Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena. Although they have yet to unveil an official date, the team expects to complete the statue by 2026. Pat Riley will become the eighth Laker to get a statue at the Star Plaza, joining the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Chick Hearn, and Shaquille O’Neal.
Los Angeles Lakers Will Honor Legendary Coach Pat Riley with a Statue
Pat Riley is more than deserving of a Laker statue. He helped the team raise six banners, four as a coach, one as an assistant coach, and one as a player. Announcing the statue, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, said,
“Pat is a Lakers icon. His professionalism, commitment to his craft, and game preparation paved the way for the coaching we see across the league today. My dad recognized Pat’s obsession and ability to take talented players and coalesce them into a championship team. The style of basketball Pat and the Lakers created in the 80s is still the blueprint for the organization today: an entertaining and winning team.”
From 1981 to 1990, Pat Riley guided the Lakers to 50 games in each of the nine seasons. In five of those, the team won 60+ games. He has 533 regular season wins as a head coach of the Lakers, second only behind Phil Jackson with 610. If we include playoff wins, he won 635 games with the Lakers as a coach. Former Lakers star, Magic Johnson, praised the Lakers for this decision.
Congratulations to, in my opinion, the greatest coach to ever grace the NBA!
A huge thank you to Jeanie Buss for making this moment possible. All of his Showtime players are thrilled to see this well-deserved statue come to life! https://t.co/u0RK3oU9Hn
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) November 18, 2024
Pat Riley Changed the Game
Pat Riley was an assistant coach of the Lakers when they drafted Magic. He served as an assistant to Paul Westhead during Magic’s rookie season in 1979-80. That year, the Lakers won their first title of the decade. During the 1981-82 season, Riley took over as a head coach, and he completely changed the way the Lakers played. He implemented a fast-paced offense, anchored by Magic and his elite passing. Nowadays, a lot of teams are trying to play fast-paced offense and run-and-gun, but it was the Lakers that started everything.
The team won four more titles, including back-to-back championship rings in 1987 and 1988. Riley took the team to seven Finals appearances, winning four of them. After leaving the Lakers, he took over the New York Knicks, where he adopted a different style, powered by one of the best big men of the generation, Patrick Ewing. Now, he serves as the president of the Miami Heat and is responsible for the three titles the Heat have won.
Riley Joining an Elite Company
When the Lakers unveil Pat Riley’s statue, he will become only the second coach in NBA history to have a statue. Plenty of coaches have their jerseys retired by teams, including Phil Jackson in Chicago, but only one other coach has a statue. That is Red Auerbach, the legendary Celtics coach who also served as an executive during the 1980s. Red has his statute outside Quincy Market at Faneuil Hall, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Do the Lakers have the Next Riley on Board?
When the Lakers hired JJ Redick as their next coach, many people believed he would be the next Pat Riley. After all, they had a similar path: decent role players who were not stars and transitioned into broadcasting before accepting a head coaching role. But their journey is different in a way Riley spent nearly two seasons as an assistant coach before becoming the head coach. If there is one person who doesn’t think Redick will be Pat Riley, that is Shaq. He recently said,
“Stop it. No. First of all, JJ is a nice guy. Pat Riley is the man. So, imagine you come in (as a player) and JJ Redick starts yelling at you. It’s gonna be a (expletive) fight in there. Players ain’t going for all that yelling and all that screaming and all that extra running. Next Pat Riley, my a—.”
