Arison bought the Heat in 1995 and immediately hired Riley as president and coach. Riley resigned as coach of the New York Knicks, who accused Arison of tampering. Their partnership has yielded three championships and six finals appearances.

The 76-year-old Arison, who earned his wealth via the cruise industry, is set to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 6. Ahead of the honor, the 80-year-old Riley sang praises for his boss.

“As an owner, to me, he showed tremendous loyalty to myself, our staff, the people in the organization that have been there ever since he bought it,” said Riley in a report from The Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang.

“He’s a tremendously honest guy. He’s always been very honest with me, whether I wanted to hear it or not. We’ve always had that kind of relationship. I believe that he’s very sincere about what he really wanted to accomplish, and he really wanted to win. He’s a winner.”

Riley knows exactly how special it is to be in the Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2008, the same year he stepped down as coach of the Heat to fully focus on his role as president.

The three-time Coach of the Year stressed that the Heat “took a turn” once Arison took over the ownership. The team failed to win a single playoff series in the first seven years before Arison arrived.

“I think that night in and night out, Micky wanted to make sure that the people in South Florida thought we could win, we were competitive. Even in the years that we knew that we may not be the team, we fought like hell to be the team,” added Riley.

Aside from Arison, also part of the 2025 Hall of Fame Class are NBA legends Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan, and WNBA icons Sue Bird, Maya Moore, and Sylvia Fowles, among others.