The Redeem Team, the USA Basketball squad that was put together to reclaim the Olympic gold medal in 2008 in Beijing, after the United States lost its dominance in international play, was inducted into this year’s Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
That 2008 All-Star basketball team did redeem the dominance that the United States had enjoyed prior to the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, where the Olympic team only won the Bronze Medal. Every player who participated in bringing the glory back to the country in basketball was in attendance over the weekend, except Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in 2020.
According to NBC Sports, Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Dwyane Wade, and Deron Williams were in Springfield, Massachusetts, to accept their place in the Hall of Fame. Also joining them were head coach Mike Krzyzewski, assistant coaches Jim Boeheim and Mike D’Antoni, and managing director Jerry Colangelo.
James acknowledged Bryant’s role on the team when the collective sat down for a panel, which was moderated by Ahmad Rashad.
“(Bryant) was the missing link that we needed in order to regain the dominance with Team USA,” James said.
The team was being advertised as the second coming of the original Dream Team, which consisted of NBA players, including one college athlete. Before the organization of the Dream Team, the USA Basketball team typically featured college students, before the rest of the world caught up to the Americans in terms of athleticism and competition in basketball play.
That 1992 Olympic team is considered to be the best basketball team ever assembled in the world. The players were: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler, Karl Malone, and Christian Laettner, who was the lone non-professional on the team.
Two of the members of the gold medal-winning team, Anthony and Howard, were also inducted individually for their careers.
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