Another Lakers legend officially joined those cast in bronze around Crypto.com Arena on Sunday. Pat Riley, architect of the Showtime era, had his own statue unveiled just hours prior to the Lakers and Celtics renewing their rivalry, a fitting follow-up for a man who spent his career in LA besting Boston.
Unsurprsingly, Riley’s ceremony was chock full of Lakers legends throughout his decades with the franchise.
Perhaps a bit more surprising was that some Heat legends were included as well.
Among those watching the event were James Worthy, AC Green, Kurt Rambis, Stu Lantz, Jamaal Wilkes, Bob McAdoo, Norm Nixon, Byron Scott, Alonzo Mourning, Rob Pelinka, Ryan West and Gary Vitti. Riley also had a select few speak during the ceremony as well in Magic Johnson, actor Michael Douglas, Dwyane Wade, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jeanie Buss.
Before all of the festivities on Sunday, Riley had a party on Saturday night to celebrate the honor.
Here are the highlights from each speaker during the ceremony.
Jeanie Buss
Jeanie kept her speech short, but did include a thank you to the Miami Heat organization for allowing Riley to take part in this ceremony, as well as a joke.
Jeanie cited a speech her father, the late Dr. Jerry Buss, gave at his Hall of Fame induction, calling Riley the guardian angel of the franchise.
Shaq
While Shaq wasn’t in attendance, he did send a video message for the ceremony. With the unique experience of being a Lakers legend who played under Pat Riley outside of LA, Shaq was an easy inclusion into the ceremony.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Cap was another one who had to be included. Again, it was a short speech without too many highlights but did include some stories dating back to sharing experiences together with Riley all the way back in high school, showing just how far back the two go.
Dwyane Wade
While not the biggest surprise inclusion, it was nice to see Wade, who is such an integral part of Riley’s post-LA legacy, speaking at the ceremony. He started by thanking both the Buss and Rambis family for taking care of he and his wife and ensuring they could be part of the ceremony.
Wade didn’t dive too deep into specific moments of his career given they were all, obviously, Heat-specific, but did certainly provide a great message of what Riley meant to him, something I’m sure many other Lakers could relate to.
Michael Douglas
Now this was definitely the surprise inclusion as Michael Douglas — yes, that Michael Douglas — spoke as well. Aware of how much he stood out amongst those on stage, Douglass shared that he and Riley had been friends for over 40 years, dating back to the early ‘80s.
He shared a lengthy, but enjoyable story of being a Lakers fan in the ‘80s and trying to see the results of the NBA Finals while filming a movie in Morocco.
Magic Johnson
Magic opened his speech with some pertinent shoutouts to three Lakers legends who have passed in Dr. Buss, Jerry West and Chick Hearn, all who played big roles in Riley’s Lakers career.
As only Magic can, his retelling of old stories included a tale of Riley asking him to score more. Magic’s response of “Did you ask Kareem?” not only got a laugh from the crowd but an extended one from Cap on stage.
Magic also recognized a whole number of Lakers and teammates who were part of the Showtime era in attendance as well.
Pat Riley
Lastly, Pat Riley took the stage, and boy did he take advantage of the moment as he had a long speech. He first thanked each person on stage individually while sharing a bit more about them, including Jeanie for her work in both setting up the ceremony and surprising him with the news.
“I thank you so much,” Riley said. “I know you guys were conspiring in some way, shape or form to do this and I didn’t know anything about it.”
Riley revealed that he was “scared to death” when he took over as head coach. He also gave a shoutout to Bill Bertka, the longtime Lakers coaching legend who was in attendance.
He also ended his speech in the best way possible.
The pose chosen for the statue, and the positioning of it, were very deliberate and very good selections. The statue sits between Magic and Kareem’s and is the pose of his right fist raised in the air, which was the signal for Magic to pass Kareem the ball for a skyhook.
Here are some more details about the statue:
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