Los Angeles Lakers Set To Honour Pat Riley With an Amazing Gesture Next Season

For a long time, Pat Riley has been one of the most influential and successful figures in the entire NBA, and for most young fans out there, his success is tied entirely to the Miami Heat. That is because he has been the team president since 1995, serving as the head coach of the team for the first 13 of those years, but before that, he was a key piece of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Playing for the team in the early ’70s, Riley returned to Los Angeles first as a broadcaster, then as an assistant coach in the late ’70s. He officially took over as the head coach in the early 1980s. In the nine seasons that Riley served as the Lakers’ head coach, the team reached the NBA Finals seven times, becoming NBA champions in four of those seasons, cementing themselves as one of the NBA's all-time great dynasties.

Despite leaving for the Knicks, Riley has long been an iconic and beloved figure in the history of the Lakers, and now he's set to be honored by the team.

On Thursday, the team announced that later this season, in a matchup with the rival Boston Celtics, the Lakers will unveil a statue of Riley that is set to honor him for his successful stint with the organization both as a player and as a coach. With so much history as a franchise, receiving this type of honor from the Lakers must be an incredible feeling, and given the success that he brought to this organization, it's well deserved.