National Basketball Association

Robert Horry shades Kobe Bryant with a savage rhetorical question

Published Mar. 16, 2016 3:43 p.m. ET

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Robert Horry won seven championships in his 16-year career. Two came with Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets. Three came with Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Two came with Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

If anybody is to be trusted for an opinion on the age-old Kobe Bryant-vs.-Tim Duncan debate, it's this man, who had incredible success with them both.

Horry was recently asked who he'd rather have on a team, and, well, his words were not minced:

Duncan's most identifiable trait to the general public is his colorless playing style. Despite all his ridiculous success — the five championships (and counting?), unselfish behavior and neverending willingness to always place the team above himself — people outside San Antonio were never pumped up when Duncan came to town. In other words: He isn't the guy Horry would choose to fill seats.

Bryant, on the other hand, is a worldwide megastar. At 37, he's still arguably the most popular name in the sport. He also has five championships, but his 20-year career lacked the consistency of Duncan's. Bryant nearly split from the Lakers on numerous occasions, and the team either failed to make the playoffs or was eliminated in the first round in the three-year stretch between O'Neal's exit and the addition of Pau Gasol.

Of course, nobody can win unless they're surrounded by a talented supporting cast, but Bryant isolated himself by habitually degrading teammates and coaches. He was stubborn and selfish.

Duncan, on the other hand, brought people together. He ceded the floor to Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard while Bryant drove O'Neal and Dwight Howard away.

The contrast is endlessly fascinating, and both are all-time top-10 icons. It's just interesting to hear Horry weigh in as harshly as he did.