PHILADELPHIA — A tie for fourth place for Pat Riley in the voting released Thursday for 2022 NBA Executive of the Year did not change a more significant reality in the eyes of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
“I mean Pat is on the Mount Rushmore of executives,” Spoelstra said ahead of his team’s Game 6 against the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, “and he should always be in the consideration every single year, because he kind of sets the blueprint, and he’s been able to do it so many different times, and then do it when people think that you can’t.”
Memphis Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman was named winner of the 2022 award, in the voting of fellow executives. The Chicago Bulls’ Artūras Karnišovas and Cleveland Cavaliers’ Koby Altman tied for second, with Riley and the Phoenix Suns’ James Jones tying for fourth.
