On statue day, Pat Riley wonders what could have been with LeBron and Heat: ‘We’ll never know’
With the Los Angeles Lakers unveiling a bronze statue of Pat Riley outside its home arena on Sunday afternoon, it was a day of reminiscing for the Miami Heat icon.
Reminiscing on the six NBA championships he won with the Lakers — four as the head coach (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988), one as an assistant coach (1980) and one as a player (1972).
But also reminiscing on what could have been for the Heat if current Lakers star forward LeBron James would have stayed with the Heat.
As part of a Big 3 that also featured Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, James spent four seasons with the Heat from 2010 to 2014 and accomplished a lot. James won his first two NBA championships with the organization in 2012 and 2013 in four NBA Finals appearances, and was selected as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player two times while with the Heat.
“I thought getting the Big 3 — Dwyane, Chris Bosh and especially LeBron — that we had finally put together what I thought could become a dynasty,” Riley, 80, said Sunday when asked during a news conference in Los Angeles what James’ four-year run with the Heat meant to him. “It was. Four trips to the Finals in a row, two world championships. It was an incredible run. And as a coach and somebody who really thought about how to build that particular team and had built it, I saw something that could have lasted eight to 10 years.”
But instead James exited Miami as a free agent in 2014 after the Heat lost in the 2014 NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs. James left Miami to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team he left to join the Heat in 2010.
“I never said I’m going to go there four years and decide to go somewhere else,” James said to reporters in Los Angeles on Sunday when asked about Riley’s comments. “That’s just how the cards were played. But, yeah, it’s human nature to look back and say what could have been. But that’s part of life. I thought the four years that we had were great, obviously. We were able to pick up two championships, we lost two of them, unfortunately. But a lot of great memories, a lot of great time there. It would have been interesting to see what could have happened.”
Instead, what actually happened is James returned to Cleveland and won an NBA championship in 2016.
Then after a four-year stint with the Cavaliers, LeBron again left Cleveland and this time signed with the Lakers in 2018. He has been with the Lakers ever since, defeating the Heat in the 2020 NBA Finals for his fourth NBA title.
James, 41, is now in his 23rd NBA season, and has already established himself as the league’s all-time leading scorer and one of the best players of all time. He’s averaging 21.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game this season.
Meanwhile, the Heat has yet to win another NBA championship despite playing in two NBA Finals in 2020 and 2023 following James’ exit in 2014. This season, the Heat enters Tuesday’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with a 31-27 record.
“I understood,” Riley said of James’ decision to leave the Heat, now seemingly at peace with the way things played out 12 years after James’ departure. “The business in the NBA is the business in the NBA. Players have an opportunity to go somewhere else, and he went to Cleveland and he won a title up there. So I wish him nothing but the best. But I’m going to be selfish here and say I wish I had him for another six or eight years. That would have been great. But we’ll never know, will we?”
What is evident is there remains a mutual respect between Riley and James. Riley and his wife, Chris Riley, shared a moment with James before Sunday’s game between the Lakers and Boston Celtics at Crypto.com Arena.
Then James remained on the Lakers’ bench to watch Sunday’s halftime celebration of Riley’s new statue outside the arena.
Riley is the eighth Lakers legend and the first Lakers coach to be commemorated with a statue, joining Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West outside Crypto.com Arena.
Riley, who is currently the Heat’s president, is now in his 31st season with the Heat after joining the organization in 1995. During that time, the Heat has made 24 postseason appearances and captured 16 division titles while making seven trips to the NBA Finals and winning its first three NBA championships (2006, 2012 and 2013).
Riley was the head coach and team president for the Heat’s first NBA championship in 2006 before relinquishing those duties to Erik Spoelstra in 2008. Riley was solely the team president for the Heat’s last two titles in 2012 and 2013 when James was on the roster.
“Listen, he’s one of the all-time greats to ever be a part of this league,” James said of Riley. “Not only as a player, as a coach, executive, front office, everything. Obviously, what he did here for the Lakers organization in the 80s goes without saying and rightfully so in him having a statue right outside this building. Obviously, I spent four years with him. I have the upmost respect for him, for his family and everything. So it’s pretty cool.”
