Ex-NBA Player Says It Time For Miami Heat To Move On From Pat Riley

When asked to comment on a fellow former NBA player suggesting the Miami Heat move on from Riley, Lou Williams posed a question.

Miami Heat President Pat Riley / https://www.si.com/nba/heat/miami-news/miami-heat-pat-riley-demands-for-joining-team

Speaking on FanDuel TV's "Run It Back", three-time NBA Sixth Man Of The Year Lou Williams was asked to comment on fellow former NBA player Jeff Teague's comments suggesting that the Miami Heat need to "get rid of" president Pat Riley.

"We make so much about Pat Riley and his treatment of superstars when they get into the latter years of their career," Williams said. "Do we not supposed to hold front office personnel just as accountable when they get to a certain age? "

Williams had more to say on Riley aging as an executive, one day after the Hall-of-Famer's birthday.

"I think just, naturally, when you're 80 years old, there's things that you probably don't understand or get when it comes to the culture of players now," Williams said.

Lou Williams says Pat Riley moves on from aging players—and the Heat should do the same to him.

“When you’re 80 years old, there are things that you probably don’t understand or get when it comes to the culture of players.”

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Williams, who played for 17 seasons in the NBA, elaborated on his reasoning for the line of questioning.

"I would ask the question, when do we start holding our execs accountable on the same level of players when they say you're too old or you're too this?," Williams said. "Now, I've never worked alongside Pat Riley. I've never been a player that's played under him. I've never been a Miami Heat guy. I can't speak to his impact day-in and day-out. I only know what I know from this vantage point, but, you know, Jeff's saying that they need to get rid of Pat Riley. I'm not gonna say they need to get to it because I can't speak to that based on experience, but I wanna pose the question. 80 years old in 2025, with how much the game has changed, it's evolved, what's accepted, and how guys carry themselves and what's deemed to be a successful way of getting to championships and winning basketball games, why not ask the question?”

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at toledoalexander22@gmail.com.

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