The Los Angeles Lakers honoured legendary coach Pat Riley, the mastermind of the staff’s Nineteen Eighties “Showtime” period, with a statue outdoors Crypto.com Enviornment on Sunday.
Riley, a Corridor of Fame coach now serving because the Miami Warmth’s staff president, coached the Lakers from 1981 to 1990, taking them to the NBA Finals seven occasions and profitable NBA titles in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988.
Now, he’s immortalised outdoors the Lakers’ enviornment in downtown Los Angeles, a bronze likeness of Riley — carrying one among his favorite Armani fits and with one fist raised — ranged alongside statues of Lakers greats Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in addition to beloved broadcaster Chick Hearn.
Pat Riley, centre-right, is swamped by followers and gamers after he guided Lakers to its first of 4 NBA titles in 1982.
| Picture Credit score:
AP
Pat Riley, centre-right, is swamped by followers and gamers after he guided Lakers to its first of 4 NBA titles in 1982.
| Picture Credit score:
AP
“I don’t know the way I obtained right here, however I obtained right here, and now there’s a statue on the market,” Riley, 80, stated. “I’m so grateful to be honoured and to be with those that are the giants that I jumped up on their shoulders, they usually carried me.”
As head coach in Los Angeles, Riley gained 533 video games, his profitable share of 73.3 main all Lakers coaches.
He would go on to educate the Warmth to an NBA title, however he cemented his NBA status because the architect of the “Showtime” Lakers, whose high-octane offence revolutionised the NBA and made the franchise a cultural crossover phenomenon in Hollywood.
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Actor Michael Douglas, a longtime Riley pal who was available on Sunday, says Riley’s trademark swept-back coiffure impressed the search for his 1987 Oscar-winning function as banker Gordon Gekko in “Wall Avenue.”
Riley gained a championship with the Lakers as a participant in 1972 and went on to hitch Hearn as a Lakers broadcaster earlier than turning into an assistant coach.
He was promoted to go coach by staff proprietor Jerry Buss in 1981. Buss’s daughter, present Lakers governor Jeanie Buss, referred to as him “a guardian angel for this franchise” and “the epitome of an period.”
Printed on Feb 23, 2026