Lakers to Unveil Phil Jackson Statue in April 2027, Ninth Legend Honored at Star Plaza

The Los Angeles Lakers announced Tuesday, September 8, 2026, that Phil Jackson will become the ninth person honored with a statue at Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena. The unveiling is scheduled for April 9, 2027, before the Lakers host the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to the team's announcement.

Jackson's numbers speak for themselves. He won 11 NBA championships as a head coach, the most in league history, five of them with the Lakers across two stints (1999-2004 and 2005-11) and six with the Chicago Bulls alongside Michael Jordan in the 1990s. His Lakers regular-season record was 610-292, a franchise mark, with a 118-63 playoff record, per CBS Sports. He made the playoffs in all 11 seasons he coached the team and reached seven NBA Finals, winning three straight titles from 2000-02 with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, then two more in 2009 and 2010 with Bryant and Pau Gasol.

"Phil Jackson defines championship basketball for a reason," Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in the team's 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."

The statue will be designed by Omri Amrany of Rotblatt Amrany Studio, according to the LA Times and MyNewsLA. Jackson, who turns 81 later this month, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 and was named one of the NBA's 15 greatest coaches as part of the league's 75th anniversary celebration.

He'll join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Pat Riley and Jerry West at Star Plaza. Riley's statue went up in February 2026 and Bryant's first statue was unveiled in February 2024, meaning the Lakers have added a new statue roughly once a year for the last few years.

The timing is awkward

The Lakers are in the middle of a sale to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, and that deal has triggered a legal battle within the Buss family, according to CBS Sports. Jeanie Buss is disputing the sale in court, and there's an internal fight over removing her as the team's governor.

That makes her name being the sole quote in Tuesday's statue announcement notable. Jackson and Buss were once engaged. Whether she'll still hold her role as Lakers governor by the time the statue goes up on April 9, 2027, is unresolved. No court ruling or settlement has been reported that answers that question.

Is he actually the greatest ever?

A New York Post column argues Jackson, not Red Auerbach or Gregg Popovich, is the greatest coach in NBA history, citing his 11 titles, his record 229 playoff wins, and a 70.4% regular-season winning percentage among coaches with at least 10 seasons. The Post also credits Jackson with popularizing the triangle offense developed by longtime assistant Tex Winter, and notes his teams won 25 straight playoff series from 1996 to 2003.

That argument has merit, but it's an opinion, not a settled fact. Auerbach won nine championships in ten years with the Celtics and built the roster as GM afterward. Popovich holds the NBA record for regular-season wins (1,390) with five titles and three Coach of the Year awards over 29 seasons with one franchise. Jackson's case rests on doing it with two different franchises and some of the most talented rosters ever assembled, a point his critics raise and his supporters dismiss. The debate isn't resolved by these numbers alone, and reasonable observers land on different answers.

An earlier NY Post piece referenced the statue unveiling happening "on April 7," a date that doesn't match the Lakers' official confirmation of April 9, 2027. The team's Tuesday announcement, corroborated by the LA Times, CBS Sports, Heavy.com, eurohoops and MyNewsLA, is the authoritative date.

For now, the ceremony is nearly seven months out. The bigger open question hanging over it isn't Jackson's legacy. It's whether the Buss family's court fight over the Kushner-Iger sale gets resolved before then, and whether Jeanie Buss is still standing at the podium when the statue comes off its wrap.