From LeBron's Entourage To Rob Lowe's Drug Escapades, Pat Riley Has Always Run A Tight Ship

Shandel Richardson | Jul 29, 2024

Mar 4, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat president Pat Riley applauds Chris Bosh during a brief ceremony during the game between the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks at Miami-Dade Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports / Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

At the time, LeBron James was used to having his way.

James could do what he wanted his first seven years with the Cleveland Cavaliers. And then he joined the Miami Heat under the leadership of Pat Riley in 2010.

Everything changed.

A few years ago, former Heat assistant David Fizdale told a story on The Knuckleheads podcast about James and Riley butting heads.

"LeBron had to hear the truth," Fizdale said then "He had to conform to the Heat way, we couldn't be his way. It was really important that he had that's always been for him. Even though we lost that first year, it was little stuff that would take place that was really cruel. I remember LeBron was hot about something that was counter to our culture. I don't know if he was with some guys he wanted to come into our locker room. I forgot what it was, and you know, we didn't let nobody in the building, it was something like that. And I just remember walking to the locker room, and LeBron was talking to a couple of guys in the locker room. It was UD [Udonis Haslem] and D-Wade. And both of them, as I was through, both go, 'Nah, we don't do it like that here. This is our space. If you wanna hang out with them, you do it over there. But this is how we do it here, and when we come here, this is just for us.'"

Riley's approach started long before coming to the Heat in the mid-1990s. It also happened with the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers.

Actor Rob Lowe recently told a story of how he was banned from the Lakers locker room by Riley.

Lowe loved basketball, so naturally he made friends with some of the players.

Everything was cool until Riley stepped in during the 1988 NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons. It was back during the days of the 2-3-2 format, meaning one team would play host to three straight games.

"You'd have three games, which took forever, they were an eternity and you're in Detroit for a long time," Lowe said during an appearance on The Breakfast Club. "I sent some friends up to somebody's room and Riley found out about it and that's why he banned me."

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Remember, this was during the `80s when Lowe was caught up in the drug scene. He said Riley "100 percent banned" him after assisting the player score off the court.

"You think he wanted Earvin [Magic Johnson] messed up in that shit," Lowe said.

Lowe told another story about hanging with a player whose performance suffered during the series.

"I took one of my guys out to Mr. Chow [in Beverly Hills] and those were the days I was doing my thing," Lowe said. "I took something and he was like, `What that?' I go, `It's called a Quaalude.'

After the player tried it, Lowe said, "He went 0 for 34. You look up the stats and you'll know who it was."

We have a pretty good idea who it was but you'll just have to check the box scores.

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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