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Chris Bosh Borrowed, But Never Returned Pat Riley’s 2006 Championship Ring

No matter where Pat Riley was in his long NBA career as player, coach and executive, he’s always been very successful, and he has the gold to show for it.

Riley won one ring as a player, five as a coach, and three as an executive. If we add the one ring he won as an assistant coach, that makes a grand total of 10 championship rings.

Riley has always been a genius within the game who knew things others didn’t, and who could see things others couldn’t. This is also one of the reasons he’s been able to build so many great teams. More so, Riley was a master of recruiting players.

While his coolest recruiting plan, he used on Tracy McGrady, didn’t work out, most others have. His last huge trick was when he was able to bring LeBron James and Chris Bosh to South Beach to build a Miami Heat dynasty. 

When Riley was recruiting Bosh and James, he put all of his championship rings on the table, and apparently even let Chris Bosh keep his 2006 championship ring with a challenge. Riley told Bosh to sign with the Heat, win his own ring and then return the 2006 ring to him.

As you know, Bosh singed with the Heat, and won a pair of rings – but he never returned Riley’s 2006 championship ring.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN:

“Oh, yeah, Pat brought his rings out. It looked just like a Crown Royal bag,” Bosh said. “He puts it down, like boom. Big boy talk. When he ended the meeting, Pat gave me a 2006 Heat championship ring.”

“Take it. Keep it. Give it back to me when you win one,” Riley said to Bosh.

“I still haven’t given it back,” Bosh said. “I wonder if he even remembers that? I think I mentioned it once, like, ‘Yo, do you want that ring back?’ And he said, ‘What are you talking about?’ And I kept it moving.”