Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue recently shared an interesting story about his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant. Lue claimed Bryant challenged new Lakers players to 1-on-1 games to show it was his team, but Robert Horry, another former teammate, refuted the story on his Big Shot Bob Podcast.
“Ty Lue must be getting paid from that account because I don’t remember any of this s***,” Horry said. “It must have been after I was gone. Because he might have played [Devean George], he might have played him, but he ain’t played no vets because vets don’t do that s**t.”
Horry, a seven-time NBA champion, was on the Lakers from 1997 to 2003, and it’s unlikely Lue was referring to a time after he had left the team. Two examples that were brought up were Glen Rice and Isaiah Rider, and they joined the Lakers in 1999 and 2000, respectively.
“Kobe used to always wanted to play 1-on-1 with people,” Horry stated. “But it wasn’t like it was a challenge where it’s like ‘Oh, this is my team,’ because we knew it wasn’t his team. It was [Shaquille O’Neal’s] team.”
The Lakers were indeed Shaquille O’Neal’s team for much of Horry’s tenure with the franchise. O’Neal was named MVP in 2000 and would win Finals MVP on all three occasions when the team three-peated from 2000 to 2002.
Bryant had managed to elevate himself to superstar status during that run, but O’Neal was still the top dog. The guard didn’t necessarily think that way, though. Bryant didn’t want to accept that the Lakers were O’Neal’s team, and these two did clash a fair bit behind the scenes.
Horry would have witnessed that, but he didn’t see whatever games Lue was referring to. He did add, though, that he used to either arrive at practice early or leave late, and these games could have potentially taken place when he wasn’t around. If this were some kind of a ritual, though, you’d imagine Horry would have at least heard about it.
“Kobe liked to play 1-on-1 with guys, but I don’t think it was like a challenge,” Horry said. “I just think it was just a competitive nature… He used to use you as a test dummy. We were working on s*** and he was like, ‘Oh, I’mma work on left hand jumper today.’
“But I don’t think he was just challenging people, saying, ‘Okay, it was my team,'” Horry added. “Because think about it, when I was there, who team was it? It was Shaq’s team. Ain’t no question about that.”
Unfortunately, the man himself isn’t with us anymore to verify Lue’s claim. Bryant tragically passed away in a helicopter crash in January 2020. Horry has a lot of love for his former teammate and has spoken glowingly about him in recent years.
Horry even picked Bryant over Michael Jordan at one point. He also stated that it was ridiculous that the Lakers’ icon only won one MVP in his career.
