A long history with Auburn and the Utah Jazz didn’t color Robert Horry’s perspective. The 7x NBA champion believes the Los Angeles Lakers’ success in the upcoming 2026-27 season hinges on an unexpected centerpiece. Speaking live on ESPN’s Mason & Ireland Show at the Lakers Youth Foundation Golf Tournament at Pechanga, Horry conceded that newly acquired center Walker Kessler, not superstar Luka Doncic or backcourt partner Austin Reaves, holds the ultimate key to the team’s ceiling.
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With nothing personal against Walker Kessler, this admission was a bitter pill for the former Alabama Crimson Tide star to swallow, given Kessler’s roots with not just a college rival, but another NBA franchise.
“Oh man, it hurts my heart to have to root for an Auburn guy. You know, it’s just rooting for the Lakers,” Horry admitted on air. “I said, ‘The dang Lakers got me rooting for an Auburn guy.’ But no, you know, I think when you watch what Walker Kessler brings to the game, he’s so incredibly skilled. And we haven’t had a big since AD that can block shots like that, pop out for threes.”
Kessler is an alumni off Alabama’s SEC archrival Auburn. Moreover, he came from the Utah Jazz. Big Shot Bob harbors intense personal animosity with Danny Ainge, currently the CEO of Jazz.
For Horry, Doncic and Reaves provide elite, high-level perimeter play, but the interior void left since Anthony Davis’ trade remains the roster’s defining variable. Kessler’s health, after sitting out most of the 2025-26 campaign following surgery on a torn labrum in his left shoulder, presents the primary hurdle for the new-look Lakers.
“So, I just hope he stays healthy. That’s the one thing about our Laker team,” Horry continued. “You think about Luka in the playoffs, he wasn’t healthy. AR at the end of the season, unhealthy. Him missing dang near all season. How much rust has he developed, right? You know, will he be able to knock that rust off and come back and be the center that everybody’s expecting him to be? So, it’s going to be really interesting to see what he can do because he is the key. Not Luka, not AR, he is.”
Horry’s comments at Pechanga echo remarks he made at the 26th annual Harold & Carole Pump Foundation celebrity dinner, where he acknowledged his initial reluctance to embrace the 25-year-old big man due to the Iron Bowl rivalry.
“My heart says I can’t root for Walker Kessler because he went to Auburn, but now I have to,” Horry previously told Lakers Nation. “Walker Kessler is a guy they’ve been coveting for a while, and you think about all the pieces that they added.”
Funnily, Horry’s feud with Ainge puts him in this unwanted position, as it led to his trade to the Lakers. He didn’t just become the clutch player of the Shaq & Kobe Lakers; he still roots for this team he won three of seven titles with. So he’s glad his Lakers have a big like the Auburn alum.
Beyond Kessler, who played just five games last season, averaging 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks, the front office completely restructured the rotation following LeBron James’ departure to Philadelphia. The acquisition of guard Quentin Grimes adds secondary perimeter defense and edge, a trait Horry strongly endorsed.
“Quentin Grimes is a guy who is a nasty guy. There’s a saying we like to say where it’s you gotta bring some nasty to the game, and that’s one of the things that he will do,” Horry noted. “It’s gonna be really interesting how the system is now without LeBron. You saw glimpses of it when he was out at the beginning of the season, but now you got Luka healthy, you got AR healthy.”
While Doncic and Reaves remain the franchise anchors, Big Shot Bob’s hinging Los Angeles’ championship aspirations on Kessler being the ultimate anchor in the paint.