Seven-time champion Robert Horry revealed how a heated exchange with Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge led to his trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he won three championships throughout the late-1990s and early 2000s. To avoid a 3-1 deficit, Horry drained the biggest shot in Lakers history in the 2002 Western Conference Finals against the Sacramento Kings. For some, Robert deserves to be in the Hall of Fame for his clutch moments and seven titles.
However, Horry's tenure with the Lakers probably doesn't happen without a heated argument with Ainge, his then-head coach during his time with the Phoenix Suns in 1996-97. Ainge benched him during a regular-season game against the Boston Celtics, which eventually led to his trade to Los Angeles, Horry said, per Byron Scott's Fast Break.
“I get a steal, hit a three, get a block shot,” Horry said, recalling back to the incident. “Three minutes in, I go to the bench and I'm like, ‘Danny Manning coming to get me?' What? Oh, f*** no. Uh-uh. And so I said, ‘Why you subbing me?' And Danny Ainge said, “Shut the f*ck up and go sit down.” I said, ‘Did he just say what I think he said?' So I went down. I said, ‘Who you f****** talking to like that?' He said, “You.” I said, ‘Man, f*** you.'
“And that's when I threw the towel in his face. So at the end of the game, we in the locker room. So you got Chucky Brown, Mark Bryant, me sitting next to each other. Joe Kleine comes in there and says “Man, we don't f****** do that around here” I’m like, ‘Man, you shut the f*** up, you bigheaded f***.’ I mean, y'all got to excuse my language. I'm hot.”
Horry was never a fan of Ainge and that night the tension between the two boiled over.
Danny Ainge informs Robert Horry he's headed to the Lakers
Former Lakers teammate Shaquille O'Neal made his case for Robert Horry to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. While that's still a debate among NBA circles, Horry revealed how he dispised his former head coach, Danny Ainge, who informed the disgruntled veteran that he'd be competing for championships with the Lakers.
“He said, “Hey, I just want to let you know I probably just won you another championship.” I'm like, ‘Why?’ He says, “because I just traded you to the Lakers”. Click! I hung up the phone in my car, and I was driving to LA,” Horry said. “I ain't even know who I got traded for who I was with. I ain't give a f***! I was out.”
With two championships under his belt with the Rockets (1994-95), Horry won three more with the Lakers, and then, added two more titles with the Spurs (2005, 2007) before retiring in 2008.
