Pat Riley Reveals Why He Left The Showtime Lakers: "I Don’t Think There Is Any Doubt In My Mind That I Changed. It Was Like War."

Pat Riley is one of the most legendary coaches in the history of basketball. Riley is as decorated as they come, winning a championship as an assistant coach and then winning 5 more as Head Coach during his career. His influence on the league as an executive also cannot be discounted, it would be safe to say that Riley is as influential a person as the NBA has seen. 

The majority of his success came with a team that he hasn't been associated with in a long time, the Los Angeles Lakers. For the best part of the last 3 decades, Riley has been synonymous with the Miami Heat, winning a championship as Head Coach with them before moving into an executive role and overseeing 2 more championships. However, his most iconic moments came with the Lakers when he was coaching the team during their Showtime era. 

Pat Riley Opened Up On His Reasons For Leaving The Los Angeles Lakers When He Was Their Head Coach

Riley leaving the Lakers wasn't something most people saw coming, he had led them to so much success after all. However, the legendary coach's departure was caused due to a rift with the players as well as the organization. Riley enjoyed commercial success and fame almost unheard of at the time for a Head Coach, and he explained in the latest episode of Legacy: The True Story of the Los Angeles Lakers (via si.com)

“Fame can grab hold of you, but it can manifest itself into a real personality change," Riley said on the episode. "I was starting to grow where I was in commercials, and I was doing this thing and that. We were in the playoffs, and I did a four-hour interview trying to sell the book the night before a game. 

"I get all over somebody else if they did it, but I went ahead and did it, but that’s where I have gotten to, and I thought I could handle it. I think all the players got a little upset with all the attention that I was drawing to myself. I began to lose myself a little, thinking it was me, and I thought I was the reason that we [the Lakers] are successful. The ego gets a little inflated, and I was on the cover of Gentleman’s Quarterly.

“I was so [engulfed] in winning that this was going to come to an end somewhere," Riley said. "It was going to be an explosion somewhere, or we all just going to retire together happily ever after. That doesn’t happen.

“When we lost in the playoffs, I could feel the walls closing in," Riley said. "I could feel it, and I fought it. I could feel them drawing away from me. I don’t think there is any doubt in my mind that I changed. It was like war."

That is a tough way for any legendary coach to leave the franchise he helped build to the heights that the Lakers achieved. However, it checks out, coaches becoming as big as the players is often a recipe for disaster. Things clearly haven't turned out badly for Riley at all since, even though he never again managed to hit the same heights as he had during the Lakers' peak Showtime era, although he did try comparing the Heatles to them once.