Los Angeles Lakers (1979–1990) Riley returned to the NBA in
1977 as a
broadcaster for the Lakers. In November 1979, after the team's head coach,
Jack McKinney, was injured in a near-fatal bicycle accident, assistant coach
Paul Westhead took over the team's head coaching duties and hired Riley as an assistant coach. With rookie guard
Magic Johnson and longtime star
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in six games in the
1980 NBA Finals, giving Westhead and Riley championship rings in their first year coaching the team. However, the team lost in the playoffs the next year to the
Moses Malone-led Houston Rockets. Six games into the 1981–82 season,
Magic Johnson said he wished to be traded because he was unhappy playing for Westhead. Shortly afterwards, Lakers' owner
Jerry Buss fired Westhead. At an ensuing press conference, with
Jerry West at his side, Buss named West head coach. West, however, balked, and Buss awkwardly tried to name West as "offensive captain" and then named West and Riley as co-coaches. West made it clear during the press conference that he would only assist Riley, and that Riley was the head coach. Thereafter, Riley was the interim head coach, until his status became permanent. Riley ushered in the Lakers' "
Showtime" era, along with superstar players Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar with their running game. Riley became a celebrity in his own right, a fashion icon for his Armani suits and slicked-back hair which complemented the team's
Hollywood image. Besides using Lakers' up-tempo style established by McKinney and Westhead, Riley was also innovative on defense; he was one of the first coaches to employ a 1-3-1 half-court trap to pick up the pace of the game. Though the Showtime Lakers were known for their offense, they won championships with their defense. In
Michael Cooper, they had one of the top defensive guards in the game. The league-wide perception was that the Lakers played with finesse and were not physical enough to win in the playoffs. Riley's mantra was "no rebounds, no rings", reinforcing the need to fight for rebounds in order to win championships. Riley led the Lakers to four consecutive
NBA Finals appearances. His first title came in his
first season, against the
Philadelphia 76ers. Both teams returned to the Finals
the next year, and this time Riley's Lakers, hobbled by injuries to
Norm Nixon,
Bob McAdoo and rookie
James Worthy, were swept by the 76ers. The Lakers lost in the Finals again in
1984, to the
Boston Celtics in seven games. The Lakers earned Riley his second NBA title in
1985 in a rematch of the previous year, as the Lakers beat the Celtics in six games. The Lakers' four-year Western Conference streak was broken
the following year by the
Houston Rockets. In
1987, Riley coached a Lakers team that is considered one of the best teams of all time. With future
Hall of Famers Magic Johnson,
James Worthy and
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, plus
Byron Scott,
A.C. Green,
Mychal Thompson,
Kurt Rambis, and Cooper, the Lakers finished 65–17 in the regular season, third-best in team history. They met with similar success in the playoffs,
dispatching the Celtics in six games to win Riley his third NBA title. One of Riley's most famous moments came when he guaranteed the crowd a repeat championship during the Lakers' championship parade in downtown
Los Angeles (he first made the guarantee during the post-victory locker room celebration). While the
1988 Lakers did not produce as many wins in the regular season as the 1987 Lakers, they still won the NBA title, becoming the first team in 19 years to repeat as champions. The Lakers beat the
Detroit Pistons in seven games in the
1988 NBA Finals, making good on Riley's promise. Riley's titles with the Lakers make him one of six men to play for an NBA Championship team and later coach the same NBA team to a championship; the others are
George Senesky,
Bill Russell,
Tom Heinsohn,
K. C. Jones and
Billy Cunningham. Although Riley would offer no further guarantees, his Lakers embarked upon a quest to obtain a third consecutive championship in
1989. Having successfully claimed a repeat championship the year before, the term used for this new goal was a
three-peat championship, and Riley, through his corporate entity, Riles & Co.,
trademarked the phrase three-peat. The Lakers won 57 games to lead the Western Conference, and swept the Western Conference bracket of the
1989 NBA playoffs (11–0). In the days leading up to the
1989 NBA Finals, Riley took his team to a mini-training camp in
Santa Barbara, California in hopes of keeping his players in peak physical form. However, his demanding, intense approach to practice took its toll on his players, and in one of the practices leading up to Game 1, Byron Scott injured his hamstring that kept him out for the series. Then during Game 2, Magic Johnson also pulled his hamstring, and though he tried to play in Game 3, the injury proved too severe for him to continue. Without Scott and later Johnson, the Lakers were swept by the Pistons in a Finals rematch. Riley was named
NBA Coach of the Year for the first time in
1989–90, but stepped down as Lakers head coach after they lost to the
Phoenix Suns in the playoffs. At the time of his departure, Riley was the foremost coach in the NBA with a level of fame not seen since
Red Auerbach.
New York Knicks (1991–1995) After stepping down, Riley accepted a job as a television commentator for
NBC for one year before being named head coach of the
New York Knicks, starting with the
1991–92 season. Commentators admired Riley's ability to work with the physical, deliberate Knicks, adapting his "Showtime" style with the fast-paced Laker teams in the 1980s. The
Chicago Bulls had easily swept the Knicks in 1991 en route to their first championship. However, in 1992, with Riley, the Knicks pushed the defending champion Bulls to seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The physical defense of the Knicks against the
Chicago Bulls' superstars
Michael Jordan and
Scottie Pippen during the 1992 playoffs led to a feud between Riley and Bulls head coach
Phil Jackson regarding the officiating and the Knicks' rough style of play. In
1993, Riley led the Knicks to their best regular season record in team history (tied with the 1969–1970 team) and received his second Coach of the Year award. The Knicks again met the Bulls in the Eastern Conference finals but lost in six games after winning the first two games at home. Jackson's Bulls that season went on to win the finals and accomplish a "three-peat," despite Riley's trademark in 1989. Riley returned to the
NBA Finals, in 1994, en route to defeating the three-time defending champion Bulls (without
Michael Jordan) in seven games during the Eastern Conference semifinals. However, New York lost in seven games to the
Houston Rockets after being up 3–2 in the series. During the 1994 Finals, Riley became the first coach to participate in an NBA Finals Game 7 with two teams, having been with the Lakers in
1984 and
1988. However, he had the unfortunate distinction of becoming the first (and to date, only) coach to lose an NBA Finals Game 7 with two teams, having lost to the Celtics, in 1984. It also denied him the distinction of becoming the first coach to win a Game 7 in the Finals with two teams, having defeated the Pistons in seven games, in 1988.
Miami Heat Head coach and president (1995–2008) On June 15, 1995, Riley resigned from the Knicks via fax to become president and head coach of the Miami Heat, with complete control over basketball operations. The move caused some controversy, as the Heat were accused by the Knicks of tampering by pursuing Riley while he still had a year remaining on his contract with the Knicks. The matter was settled after the Heat sent their
1996 first-round pick (which the Knicks used to draft
Walter McCarty) and $1 million in cash to the Knicks on September 1, 1995. In the
1995–96 NBA season, Riley led the Heat to a 42–40 record, which was a 10-game improvement over the team's previous season. Miami was swept in the first round of the playoffs by the
Phil Jackson-coached
Chicago Bulls, who went on to win the NBA championship. This Heat season was notable for personnel changes, as the team welcomed franchise building blocks
Alonzo Mourning and
Tim Hardaway. Following the season, the Heat also obtained Nets forward
P.J. Brown and Suns swingman
Dan Majerle. In
1997, Riley's Heat defeated his old team, the Knicks, in a physical seven-game series. Advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history, the Heat were again defeated by the eventual champion Bulls. Riley was selected as Coach of the Year for the third time after leading Miami to a 61–21 regular season record and first place in the Atlantic Division. in March 1999 The Heat lost to the archrival Knicks in 1998, 1999, and 2000 in the playoffs. Riley then traded Brown and
Jamal Mashburn in exchange for
Eddie Jones in one trade and acquired
Brian Grant in another, although the team suffered a major setback after
Alonzo Mourning was lost for the season due to a kidney ailment. After finishing 50–32 in the
2000–01 season, the Heat were swept by the Charlotte Hornets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Heat then lost two of their best players when guard
Tim Hardaway was traded to the
Dallas Mavericks and
Anthony Mason signed with the
Milwaukee Bucks. In part because of these departures, the Heat crumbled to a 36–46 in
2002–the first time that a Riley-coached team had not had a winning season or made the playoffs. After the Heat finished the
2002–03 season 25–57, Riley stepped down as head coach and was succeeded by longtime assistant
Stan Van Gundy. In the
2003 NBA draft, the Heat held the fifth overall pick, which they used to select
Dwyane Wade. In July 2004, Riley traded
Caron Butler,
Brian Grant,
Lamar Odom, and a first-round draft pick to the Lakers for star center
Shaquille O'Neal. Wade and O'Neal led the Heat to the Eastern Conference finals during the 2005 playoffs, where they lost to the defending champions
Detroit Pistons after leading the series 3–2. During the 2005 off-season, it was widely speculated that Riley was attempting to push Van Gundy out and make himself head coach once again now that the team was a championship contender. Van Gundy resigned from his position just 21 games into the
2005–06 season, citing a need to spend more time with his family, and Riley named himself as Van Gundy's successor. Riley's Heat team defeated the
Detroit Pistons in the 2006 Eastern Conference finals on June 2, 2006, the first time Miami reached the finals. Riley's Heat squared off against the
Dallas Mavericks in the
2006 NBA Finals. Despite losing the first two games, the Heat rallied to win the next four and their first NBA championship. After Game 6, Riley commented that he had packed one suit, one shirt, and one tie for the trip to Dallas. It was Riley's fifth championship as a head coach and his first with a team other than the Lakers. Citing hip and knee problems, Riley took a leave of absence from coaching from January 3, 2007, through February 19, 2007. Assistant coach
Ron Rothstein assumed interim duties. The Heat finished the season 44–38 and were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Chicago Bulls, the first defending champions swept in the first round since the
Philadelphia Warriors in
1957. The following season, the Heat finished 15–67. The team had lost several of its players to extended injuries, and a disgruntled
Shaquille O'Neal was traded mid-season. Two years after winning the championship, they finished with one of the worst seasons in NBA history. It also tied the Heat's
inaugural season of 1988–89 as the worst in franchise history, and was easily the worst full-season record compiled by a Riley-coached team.
Full-time team president (2008–present) On April 28, 2008, Riley announced that he would step down as head coach while remaining team president. He named assistant
Erik Spoelstra as head coach. Although the Heat have nominally had a general manager for most of Riley's tenure as team president (
Randy Pfund until 2008, and
Andy Elisburg since 2013), Riley has had the final say in basketball matters since his arrival in Miami. In 2010, Riley acquired
LeBron James and
Chris Bosh to form the Heat's "
Big Three" with Dwyane Wade. Riley was named
NBA Executive of the Year for the
2010–11 season. The Heat reached the NBA Finals each of the next four seasons (2011 through 2014). Although the Heat lost in
2011 to the
Dallas Mavericks, the Heat would beat the
Oklahoma City Thunder in the
2012 Finals to give Riley his first championship purely as an executive. The Heat repeated as champions in
2013, defeating the
San Antonio Spurs in seven games. They would go on to lose in
2014 to the Spurs in five games. In the
2019–20 season, the Heat became the fourth team in NBA history to finish lower than fourth place in their conference in the regular season and make it to the NBA Finals. The
2019–20 Heat team has been considered by some to be Riley's "
magnum opus", since the team's Finals run was not preceded by a dramatic rebuild or by the selection of a high draft pick. Before the season, Riley traded for
Jimmy Butler, drafted
Tyler Herro, and signed the undrafted
Kendrick Nunn. Before the 2019–20 trade deadline, the Heat obtained
Andre Iguodala and
Jae Crowder. In 2023, the Heat had a similarly unprecedented run to the finals as an 8th-seeded team, becoming the second 8th seed to reach the finals. Ironically, the first were the Knicks, who defeated Riley's 1st-seeded Heat in the 1999 playoffs. However, the Heat lost to the
Denver Nuggets in five games in the Finals. Prior to the
2024–25 season, the Heat honored Riley by dedicating the
Kaseya Center floor as the "Pat Riley Court at Kaseya Center". On February 5, 2025, Riley traded Butler to the
Golden State Warriors in a five-team deal that gave the Heat
Kyle Anderson,
Davion Mitchell,
Andrew Wiggins, and a 2025 protected first-round pick from the Warriors. During the following
2025–26 season on February 22, 2026, the Lakers also honored Riley by unveiling an 8–foot–tall, 510–pound bronze statue of him outside of
Crypto.com Arena in Star Plaza sitting right between the statues of Lakers legends
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and
Magic Johnson, making him the first non-player in Lakers history to be immortalized with a dedicated statue and honoring him and his accomplishments as both a player and a coach for the Lakers franchise. Sculpted by Omri Amrany and Sean Bell, the statue portrays Riley in his iconic
Giorgio Armani suit with his right fist raised in the air—the signal he used during the 1980s
Showtime era, replicating the famous on-court signal Riley used to instruct Johnson to feed Abdul-Jabbar for his signature skyhook, hence the placement of where the statue was immortalized. ==Outside basketball==