Pat Riley Reveals How Long He Thought LeBron James, Wade, Bosh Could've Played Together on Heat

The Los Angeles Lakers honored Pat Riley on Sunday by making him the first head coach in the organization's history to receive a statue.

But Riley also had his mind on one of the current Lakers, LeBron James, and what might have been had they been together for longer in Miami.

"I thought getting the Big Three—Dwyane [Wade], Chris Bosh and especially LeBron—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," he told reporters Sunday. "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?"

James was asked about those comments and whether he ever looks back on his four-year tenure in Miami and wishes he had perhaps extended it longer.

"It's human nature to look back and say, 'OK, what could have been?'" he responded. "That's part of life. I thought the four years that we had were great, obviously were able to pick up two chips, lost two of them unfortunately. But a lot of great memories, a lot of great times there. It would've been interesting to see what could have happened, but I also wouldn't have [predicted I'd be playing] this game another 12 years either. So that's another story."