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What Chris Bosh gave to Pat Riley at the Hall of Fame

Honored by the league by being accepted into the basketball hall of fame, Chris Bosh took the opportunity to pay tribute to many people. One of them was Pat Riley, who inside had a crazy story to tell… as well as a crazy object to give him on stage!

Inducted into the Hall of Fame not long ago, Chris Bosh decided to come accompanied by illustrious members of the NBA landscape. It was therefore Ray Allen, teammate of the strong-winger in Miami, and especially Pat Riley who stood on the podium during the winner’s speech. About the owner of the Heat, the two-time champion also had a rather crisp anecdote to share:

When I met Pat during free agency in 2010 he tried every trick he could to convince me and as I started to get up to leave the meeting he gave it one last shot. He took out a bag full of champion rings and tossed them on the table. He took one, looked me straight in the eye and said: “You will give it back to me when we win one together”

Quite a recruiting tactic, indeed! You have to be pretty bloated to attempt such an approach… or, in Riley’s case, be pretty desperate. We recall that it was Bosh’s decision that convinced a certain LeBron James to sign in South Beach, all the same. Funny enough, the interior still had the ring in its possession to this day!

Come to think of it, it was crazy because I hadn’t agreed to sign with Miami yet. But it’s Pat… We won two rings like this together. But I never returned the one he loaned me because for some reason I wanted to wait for the right time and found that now would be the right time to do it.

So CB1 was quick to return it to the legendary Florida ruler, and the hug between the two was clearly tinged with emotion. The ex-Raptor certainly had a brutal end to his career due to medical concerns, but he saw his work later be rewarded with a jersey withdrawal in Miami. If he won two champion rings, it was also thanks to Riley, and the time had come to pay him homage.

Give a ring as a promise to a player? There’s probably only Pat Riley to do this. The method worked anyway, and the loop is now closed for him and Chris Bosh!

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