Pat Riley is an NBA legend. His extensive career with the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat has given him a front-row seat to witness the game’s greatest talents—and he’s made his pick for the GOAT.
Few figures have left as deep an impact on the NBA as Pat Riley. He’s appeared in countless NBA Finals and, in various roles, has won multiple championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat. Drawing from his decades of experience and deep basketball knowledge, he named his favorite player.
“I always said that Kareem was the greatest player of all time because of his longevity,” Riley said in an interview with ESPN in 2023, highlighting Abdul-Jabbar above all the other stars who have passed through the league. “I put Michael (Jordan) in there too. But Kareem was the greatest at that time because of his longevity and the fact that he continued to perform at a high level when he was in his late 30s and 40s.”
Pat went even further, insisting the Showtime Lakers wouldn’t have reached their level of success without their legendary center. “We don’t win championships without the greatest player in the history of the game, who had the greatest weapon in the history of the game. The skyhook was unstoppable,” the coach said. “Last minute of the game, it’s going to one guy… Kareem was the guy, and he’ll always be the guy.”
Riley also shared some of the habits that helped Abdul-Jabbar extend his career across two decades. “His longevity came out of something that most players weren’t aware of back then or didn’t take the time to learn about. Kareem was a practitioner of yoga… I mean, really deep in meditation and yoga,” Pat said. “He would end up in these pretzel-like positions, and our guys would laugh at him, and he would just say, ‘You’ll see one day. You’ll see one day.’”
