Lakers Rumors: Phil Jackson Likely To Get Statue Outside Arena After Pat Riley | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

After the Los Angeles Lakers announced a new statue honoring legendary head coach Pat Riley, another coach is also expected to receive a statue outside Crypto.com Arena.

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Lakers’ announcement that they will begin work on a statue honoring Riley is considered “a prelude to an eventual announcement of a statue for Phil Jackson,” who represented Los Angeles from 1999 to 2004 and again in 2005 trained until 2011.

Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls on their way to six championships in the 1990s before moving to Los Angeles in 1999. He led the late, great Kobe Bryant and his co-star Shaquille O’Neal to three straight championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and led the Lakers to another Finals appearance in 2004.

In his second tenure as Los Angeles head coach, the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in the 2008 Finals before winning back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010. He ended his coaching career in Los Angeles in 2011 after winning 11 championships as a coach, including five with the Lakers.

In November, the Lakers announced they would honor Riley with a statue in Star Plaza in front of Crypto.com Arena, scheduled to be completed by 2026. He is the eighth Laker to receive a statue, joining Elgin Baylor, Chick Hearn and Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, O’Neal and Bryant.

Riley led the Showtime Lakers to four championships as head coach, winning one championship as an assistant in 1972 and another as a player for Los Angeles.