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Legendary Lakers coach Pat Riley will receive statue on Star Plaza outside arena, team announces

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Legendary Lakers coach Pat Riley will receive statue on Star Plaza outside arena, team announces

Pat Riley coached Magic Johnson and the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers to four NBA championships. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

Pat Riley is a legendary figure in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers. He’ll soon be immortalized outside the team’s home arena with a statue.

The Lakers announced on Monday that a statue honoring Riley will be placed on Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena. An official date for the unveiling has yet to be announced, but the team said that the statue is expected to be completed in 2026.

Riley will be the eighth figure that the Lakers have paid tribute to, joining Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Chick Hearn and Elgin Baylor on the plaza.

Riley coached the Lakers to four NBA championships, becoming an iconic face of the “Showtime” era that was arguably the most successful in franchise history. The beginnings of that era were recently chronicled for a new generation of fans in the HBO dramatic series, “Winning Time,” based on Jeff Pearlman’s 2014 book, “Showtime.”

From 1981 to 1990, Riley’s teams won 50 games or more in each of his nine seasons as Lakers head coach. In five of those seasons, the Lakers won 60-plus games. His 533 regular season wins are the second-most in franchise history, behind Phil Jackson’s 610. Including playoff wins, Riley won 635 games with the Lakers. He was honored as NBA Coach of the Year in 1989-90.

“Pat is a Lakers icon,” Lakers team owner 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’s history with the Lakers goes further back than his head coaching tenure. He played for the team for six seasons from 1970 to 1975, averaging 7.8 points per game as a shooting guard. That stint included the 1971-72 Lakers squad that won 33 consecutive games and an NBA title.

Additionally, Riley was an assistant coach for three seasons under head coach Paul Westhead, during which the team won two NBA championships.

Riley is currently the team president and a minority owner of the Miami Heat. After leaving the Lakers following the 1989-90 season, he coached four seasons with the New York Knicks and 11 with the Heat, winning a championship in 2006. His 1,210 wins as an NBA head coach rank fifth in league history.

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