Think of the Showtime Lakers and who pops into your head? Magic Johnson, of course. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook. Two franchise icons whose statues stand in front of the Lakers’ downtown arena.
However, you also can’t picture Showtime without the slicked-back hair and fine Italian suit of Pat Riley on the sidelines — the mastermind behind it all. Now he’s going to have a statue outside Crypto.com as well, the Lakers announced.
One of the greatest coaches of all time — The Lakers are proud to announce Pat Riley’s legacy will be cemented and his statue will find a home on Star Plaza pic.twitter.com/bHkjarx8CV
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 18, 2024
“Pat is a Lakers icon,” Lakers co-owner and governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “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.”
Riley won six titles total with the Lakers. The first was as a Lakers player in 1972, the franchise’s
first title in Los Angeles. He was a Lakers assistant coach with the 1980 championship team that we think of as the start of the Showtime era, then he took over as head coach during the 1981 season, refined the team’s fast-break style of play, and in total was the team’s head coach for nine seasons, winning four more titles and having a .733 regular season win percentage.
There is no timeline yet, but this will be unveiled in 2026, according to the team. Riley will join Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, legendary broadcaster Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West, as Lakers with statues outside the arena.
Riley was recently honored by the Miami Heat — a team he first coached in 1995 and has been in the front office with the team since his coaching days ended — by them naming the court after him (his signature appears on the court).
“This is beyond even my imagination of a reward for a man’s life’s work,” an emotional Riley said that night. “We are huge dreamers and Micky [Arinson, the Heat owner] has made mine. It wasn’t something I wanted or pursued, but I’m going to take it.”
He’s
going to take that Lakers’ statue, too.
