Robert Horry Didn't Like The Rockets Trading For Charles Barkley

Nobody will ever confuse Robert Horry and Charles Barkley when it comes down to their respective NBA careers. One is among the greatest power forwards of all time; the other is a role player with seven championship rings. Nearly three decades after the two were traded for each other, Robert Horry is still nursing a grudge about the deal that sent him packing from Houston to Phoenix. In comments that recently resurfaced online, the seven-time champion called out the Hall of Fame forward as someone who doesn't practice or work hard, questioning why the Rockets would swap young talent for an aging star who'd never won a ring.

Here's the thing: Horry's not entirely wrong to feel slighted. He was part of back-to-back championship teams, the ultimate glue guy who made winning plays when it mattered. Then Houston's front office decided to roll the dice on the 33-year-old Round Mound of Rebound, packaging Horry with Sam Cassell, Chucky Brown, and Mark Bryant for Barkley in August 1996. The thinking was that pairing Barkley with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, who both had NBA titles, would create an unstoppable super-team, despite Barkley’s later criticism of super-teams.

But Horry saw the downside of the trade from the get-go. He pointed out that there were too many chefs in the kitchen with three ball-dominant players and only one basketball. The Rockets needed role players who would take a backseat and do the blue-collar work, not another star demanding touches. Sure enough, that Rockets squad never made it past the Western Conference Finals.

What makes Horry's comments interesting is the hypocrisy angle he's highlighting. Barkley loves criticizing today's players for forming super-teams, yet he literally forced his way to Houston to team up with Hall of Famers Olajuwon and Drexler. Horry didn't exactly pull punches about that double standard either.

Ironically, Horry would go on to collect five more rings after leaving Houston, while Barkley retired ringless. While the trade may have stung at the time, in the long run, Horry’s career arguably benefited from Barkley’s ring chase more than Barkley’s did.