Robert Horry’s journey to becoming one of the most clutch players in NBA history almost didn’t happen in Los Angeles.
According to the seven-time champion, a heated altercation with then-Phoenix Suns head coach Danny Ainge set in motion the trade that would change his career.
During an appearance on Byron Scott’s Fast Break, Horry recounted the infamous moment from the 1996/97 season when frustration with Ainge boiled over during a regular-season game against the Boston Celtics.
“I get a steal, hit a three, get a block shot,” Horry recalled. “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*** 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.”
The confrontation effectively ended Horry’s time in Phoenix. Within days, Ainge had dealt the veteran forward to the Los Angeles Lakers, a move that would ultimately link Horry to one of the NBA’s greatest dynasties.
A fiery exit leads to championship glory
Horry’s resentment toward Ainge was no secret. Even after years had passed, he admitted that the two never saw eye to eye. But what began as a career setback turned into a golden opportunity when he was shipped to Los Angeles in January 1997.
“He said, ‘Hey, I just want to let you know I probably just won you another championship,'” Horry recalled of Ainge’s final words to him. “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. I ain’t even know who I got traded for, who I was with. I ain’t give a f***! I was out.”
That trade proved to be a turning point. Horry joined forces with Shaquille O’Neal and a young Kobe Bryant, becoming a key part of the Lakers’ three-peat from 2000 to 2002.
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