Former LA Lakers coach Phil Jackson is set to be honored with a statue next season, the team announced Tuesday.
He won five of his unprecedented 11 NBA coaching titles in L.A.
This season, we honor Phil Jackson the legend, Champion, and Laker
Get your tickets to the game here: https://t.co/yIHKo8QqnF pic.twitter.com/RqofTiqDsg
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) September 8, 2026
“Phil Jackson defines championship basketball for a reason,” Lakers acting governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “His masterful approach to coaching brought out the best in some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. After he accepted my dad’s invitation to join the Lakers, Phil’s unmatched creativity and commitment to excellence restored our championship legacy, bringing five titles and setting a standard of excellence for generations to come.”
“It is a great joy to be able to mark that achievement with the statue he so richly deserves.”
April 9, 2027 has been set for the unveiling just before Lakers face Minnesota Timberwolves.
Achievements
Jackson, 80, served as the Lakers coach for 11 seasons across two stints (1999-2004, 2005-11). According to ESPN, he won three championships running his patented triangle offense through Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal as the team’s primary stars and also winning two more with Bryant and Pau Gasol as L.A.’s lynchpins.
The coach guided the Lakers to a 5-2 record in the NBA Finals, winning in threepeat fashion from 2000-02 and adding back-to-back rings in 2009 and 2010.
Jackson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. And he was named as one of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history when the league revealed its coaching selections as part of its 75th anniversary season.
Coach Phil will be the ninth member of the Lakers with a statue at Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena. He joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Pat Riley, Jerry West, O’Neal and Bryant (who has two).
The statue was commissioned by the Lakers to be designed and created by Omri Amrany of Rotblatt Amrany Studio
