Way before Pat Riley made his name as the suave, sharply dressed head coach of the Showtime Lakers, he started his career in basketball as a player in the NBA. He spent nine seasons as a pro, playing for three teams, primarily as a shooting guard/small forward hybrid. Although his player career wasn’t as successful as his coach/executive one, he still won a championship in 1972.
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Riley’s career started in a unique way. He was drafted in 1967 by the San Diego Rockets as the 7th overall pick and also by the Dallas Cowboys in the 11th round of the NFL/AFL draft the same year. Of course, he chose basketball over football, and that decision would change the NBA for years to come.
Early playing career
Riley was a University of Kentucky basketball legend, having led the team to the 1966 NCAA championship game, where they lost a history-making contest to Texas Western University. Despite not winning any championships in college, the 6’4 hybrid guard went into the draft a reasonably well-sought-after player.
The Rockets took him with the 7th overall pick, and despite not having a superstar career, Riley played nine seasons in the league and did go on to win a ring.
The Rockets eventually traded him to the Trail Blazers, who immediately waived him in 1970. The Lakers went on to pick him up, and he spent six years with the Purple and Gold, amassing nearly 300 games played for them. He was also a reserve player in their 1972 championship-winning squad.
His time in LA saw him share a locker room with some of the game’s all-time greats like Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar (whom he later coached). However, Riley’s career ended with the Phoenix Suns in 1976, after spending just one season there.
His career stats read a not-very-impressive average of 7.4 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists over 528 games. A year after retirement, Riley took up a job with the Lakers as a broadcaster, and that role eventually led to one of the greatest dynasties the game has ever seen.
How Pat Riley moved into coaching
His time as a broadcaster ended in 1979, when he joined the Lakers’ coaching staff as an assistant to Paul Westhead. Only two years later, Riley would find himself at the helm, after clashes between Westhead and a rookie Earvin Johnson saw the former fired.
In his first season at the head of a global organization, The Godfather led the Lakers to championship glory, defeating Julius Erving’s 76ers 4-2 in the Finals. Riley had thrown down a gauntlet, creating one of the most-feared teams in the league. He’d go on to lead the Lakers to three more championships before leaving.
After a couple of years in anonymity, Riley re-entered the NBA, this time as the coach for his hometown New York Knicks. Despite not winning any titles, the Knicks came to be known as one of the most difficult teams to play against, nodding to Riley’s coaching skills.
In 1995, Riley took his talents to South Beach, and he coached the Miami Heat for eight years before stepping down in 2003. He did coach them again in the 2005-06 season, winning another ring with rising star Dwyane Wade as his lead pupil.
Riley stopped coaching for good in 2008 and became a member of the Heat’s front office. From there, he brokered a few of the most league-defining deals, including convincing LeBron James to join the Heat in 2010. His decision paid off, and he won two rings as an exec in 2012 and 2013.
Pat Riley’s seemingly unassuming player career paved the way for him to become one of the league’s most-feared coaches and executives. And to think it could have all been so different if he’d chosen football over basketball on that fateful draft day in 1967.
