Mychal Thompson Welcomes Long-Awaited Pat Riley Statue Outside Crypto.com Arena
pat-riley-lakers-statue-mychal-thompson-reaction
The Los Angeles Lakers will honor Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley with a bronze statue in Star Plaza on Feb. 22, 2026, before a home game against the Boston Celtics, the team announced alongside the release of its 2025-26 schedule.
Former Lakers center Mychal Thompson, a key contributor to Riley’s back-to-back championship teams in 1987 and 1988, applauded the decision on social media. “YAAAY Pat Riley’s FINALLY gonna get a statue in LA,” he wrote on X, adding a tongue-in-cheek plea that the club avoid hiring the sculptor responsible for last year’s widely mocked Dwyane Wade statue.
Riley’s connection to the franchise spans decades. He won a title with Los Angeles as a player in 1972, joined the coaching staff in 1979, and became head coach in 1982. Under his guidance, the “Showtime” Lakers captured four championships and posted the highest winning percentage in team history. Only Phil Jackson has more regular-season and playoff victories with the Lakers.
The Feb. 22 ceremony will take place outside Crypto.com Arena, where statues of franchise icons such as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Jerry West already stand. Thompson called the tribute “long overdue” and hopes the statue will reflect Riley’s legacy more accurately than Wade’s did for the former Miami Heat star.
The matchup against Boston falls outside the NBA’s Rivalry Week—when the Lakers will instead visit the Clippers, Denver Nuggets, and Dallas Mavericks—but figures to add extra significance to a night dedicated to Riley, whose teams frequently battled the Celtics for supremacy in the 1980s.
Source: Lakers Nation
