Over the years, the Los Angeles Lakers have erected a number of statues honoring team legends outside of Crypto.com Arena. This coming season, another one will be added to the collection.
Early this past season, the Lakers announced that former coach Pat Riley would be getting a statue. Now, the date that his statue will be unveiled has been set.
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Riley’s statue will be revealed to the public on Feb. 22, which is when the Boston Celtics make their annual trip out West to face the Lakers. That is fitting, given that Riley’s defining moments as the team’s coach were those battles against the Celtics in the NBA Finals.
Riley became the Lakers’ head coach early in the 1981-82 season after serving two years as an assistant coach and five and a half seasons as a bench player with them in the 1970s. They blew the 1984 NBA championship against the Celtics, but with Riley emphasizing defense, rebounding, physicality and overall toughness, the Lakers beat the Celtics in the finals for the first time in eight attempts in 1985, then got another ring against the men in green in 1987.
Overall, Riley won four world titles in nine seasons as the Lakers’ head coach. He guaranteed they would repeat as champions following their victory over Boston in 1987, and they delivered, making them the first NBA team to win back-to-back championships in 19 years.
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This season’s Lakers-Celtics matchups won’t have that much intrigue since star forward Jayson Tatum will miss the entire year due to a torn Achilles. But older fans who were around for the Showtime era will certainly be looking forward to Feb. 22.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: The Lakers will unveil a new statue of another team legend this season