The Los Angeles Lakers are giving Pat Riley a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena and they delivered the message in the best way possible.
On Wednesday, the franchise released a video that showed Magic Johnson and a group of fellow members of the Showtime Lakers teams on a video call revealing to Riley that he would be getting a statue. The Hall of Fame coach and executive was immediately emotional on hearing the news.
This is great:
Riley saying, "I'm just a kid from Schenectady, New York and here I am going to have a statue with the Lakers" was absolutely perfect for the moment.
The 79-year-old Riley was an assistant with the Lakers from 1979 to 1981 under Paul Westhead. Los Angeles won a championship in 1980, then Riley took over as head coach when Westhead was fired in November of 1981. The Lakers won a championship that season and would win three more with Riley in charge.
In all, Riley coached LA for nine seasons from 1981 through the 1989-90 campaign. He went 533-194 (.733), reached the NBA Finals seven times, and won four championships. He is more than deserving of a statue.