On the day Pat Riley was honored by the Lakers with a statue, the pioneer of “Showtime” basketball reflected on his success with another NBA franchise and all-time great player.
When asked about LeBron James’ departure from the Miami Heat in 2014, Riley shared his thoughts on the end of not only the most successful stint in Heat history, but one of the best the NBA has ever seen.
“I thought getting the Big Three — Dwyane [Wade], Chris Bosh and especially LeBron [James] — that we had finally put together what I thought could be a dynasty. It was. I mean, four trips to the finals in a row, two world championships. It was an incredible run.
“And, as a coach, and as somebody who really thought about how to build that particular team and built it, I saw something I thought could last 8-10 years. But I understood, as I said in my speech, is that the business of the NBA is the business of the NBA. Players have an opportunity to go somewhere else, and he went to Cleveland, and he won a title up there, so I wish him nothing but the best. But I’m going to be selfish here and say I wish I had him for another 6-8 years. It would’ve been great, but we’ll never know. Will we?”
Riley’s thoughts only further induce curiosity about what could’ve been had LeBron, who is playing in his NBA-record 23rd season, stayed in Miami after four seasons with the Heat, after which he exercised an early termination option and eventually returned to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers. By 2016, LeBron secured his third NBA championship by leading Cleveland to its only NBA title in team history and the city’s first professional title since 1964.
But that landmark championship followed LeBron, Wade and Bosh collaborating on some of the best basketball many fans will ever see. When the trio joined forces in the summer of 2010, it was met with rebuke from many who lamented star players teaming up via free agency in pursuit of a title.
The free-agency distinction is key in this case because, up to then, certain prior NBA title-winning cores were crafted via trade or through the draft: think the 2008 Boston Celtics (Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joining Paul Pierce), Michael Jordan’s dynasty Chicago Bulls (drafted Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant Toni Kukoc) and even Riley’s aforementioned ‘Showtime’ Lakers (drafted Magic Johnson after a prior trade, traded for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, selected James Worthy, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper and Kurt Rambis in the draft). Likewise for Isiah Thomas’ Detroit Pistons and Larry Bird’s iteration of the Celtics.
You get the point.
But in Miami’s case, its version of a Big Three was initially met with criticism because stars of LeBron’s and Bosh’s caliber choosing to join forces with a player such as an in-his-prime Wade induced a paradigm shift, but Riley — a winner of nine NBA titles across stints as a player, assistant coach, head coach and executive — was and remains well-accustomed to paradigm shifts.
From 2010-14, that Big Three core turned the NBA on its head one game, victory, NBA Finals appearance and alley-oop at a time.
Over that span, Miami’s .718 win percentage trailed only the San Antonio Spurs (.740) while becoming the third different franchise (Bill Russell’s and Larry Bird’s Celtics, Riley’s “Showtime” Lakers) to make four consecutive NBA Finals appearances. The 2011 finals will remain a distinct sore spot for the Heat and their fans — especially LeBron — but all parties made up for it by winning consecutive titles in 2012 and 2013, a stretch that saw LeBron win consecutive regular-season and NBA Finals MVPs. LeBron remains one of six players in NBA history to secure back-to-back finals MVP honors, doing so by averaging 28.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.8 steals in 46 playoff games over that stretch.
During the 2012-13 season, from Feb. 3 to March 25, 2013, the Heat notched a 27-game win streak, tying the second-longest single-season mark in NBA history. Coincidentally, Riley was involved with the only team with better single-season luck: the 1971-72 Lakers, who won 33 in a row from Nov. 5, 1971 to Jan. 7, 1972.
But as Riley said Sunday, the NBA is a business, so the Big Three dissolved for the same reason it came together.
Since Riley and LeBron parted ways, both have experienced the NBA Finals again, including a 2020 meeting in that NBA’s COVID-19 bubble. Riley remains the president of Miami’s basketball moves, and LeBron, who has since become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and nears almost every league record imaginable, is gauging the best way for him to conclude what has been one of the best careers in league history.
Although we’ll never know what could’ve been had LeBron kept his talents in South Beach, Riley made it clear on Sunday it’s plenty reasonable to wish basketball fans everywhere saw more of the most unique hoops we’ll ever see, no matter one’s philosophy on stars joining forces via free agency, team-induced trade or otherwise.