The Los Angeles Lakers are a franchise that is all about the big stars. But for all of the legends like Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Jerry West and LeBron James, there have also been role players like Derek Fisher, Michael Cooper, Alex Caruso and Robert Horry who were absolutely critical to the championship banners that have been raised to the rafters.
For many, Horry is viewed as the greatest role player of all-time as he has a highlight reel of clutch shots that led to him winning seven NBA Championships in his career. In a recent appearance on ESPN LA Radio with Andy Kamenetzky and D’Marco Farr, Horry spoke about the importance of role players and the sacrifice they have to make in order for the team to be successful:
“It depends on how you look at it. For me, everybody has a role. Shaq’s role was to score a lot of points, get rebounds. Kobe the same. Our role is just a little lesser, they don’t depend on us to do as much. But I think our role sometimes is more important than the big dog’s role because we sacrifice so much. I think a lot of time people forget we were number one players in our high schools and colleges so when you get to the NBA you got certain guys you gotta take a backseat to. Think about it, my first couple years in the league I was averaging double figures, I get to the Lakers and I get like three shots a game. You can’t score unless you get shots, so you’re sacrificing that for the betterment of the team. Because at the end of the day, the most important thing is winning. So I think every player that comes out, sacrificing, being able to do what they can do to make the team win, are the most important players on the team because there’s so many of us that sacrifice our games.”
Horry doubled down on that sentiment as the former Laker noted how often times role players such as himself get called upon to deliver in the clutch, despite getting hardly any opportunities throughout the game:
“The crazy part about it is, you get to the end of the game and they say, ‘OK we need to make you a shot.’ Well why didn’t you do this during the game and we wouldn’t be in this position? And that’s what you gotta understand. Think about guys like myself and Ray Allen, well Ray Allen got more plays ran for him, but people like myself where all of a sudden you throw them in the game like, ‘Yo, we need you to win this game, knock down this shot.’ I’m like why didn’t you give me the ball throughout the game, let me get warmed up? It’s just a specialty, Derek Fisher is like that too. So it’s a specialty and I think sometimes we don’t get enough credit for the things that we do and the thing is we not in this game for the credit anyway, we in this game to win.”
As Horry noted, the most important thing is winning and he did that with the Lakers and many other teams throughout his career. To be able to make the most of the few opportunities you receive, and still impact the game in a big way, is what separates the greatest role players and Horry may very well be at the top of that list.
Magic Johnson lists his top-5 Lakers of all-time
Unfortunately, there aren’t many discussions about the greatest role players of all-time in which Robert Horry would certainly be on the list. But Lakers legend Magic Johnson was asked to list his top five Lakers players of all-time, which is no easy feat in itself. He included Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain.
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