Get five minutes into any sports movie, and the underlying message will appear like Chris Paul after a whistle: “There’s no I in team.” It’s something that the US Olympic men’s basketball team learned in the 2000s thanks to a spate of losses that were blamed on a lack of cooperation, an unwillingness to practice together and an underdeveloped understanding of international basketball. These inadequacies are the crux of the new documentary The Redeem Team.
The Redeem Team reveals the personal circumstances for individual team members. For many of them, their performance in the Beijing games would reset the trajectories that led to where they are now. Below are the main players and figures we hear from throughout the film.
You may recognize LeBron James’ name from living on this planet. James was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 and has accumulated every accolade available to a basketball player since then, including becoming a four-time MVP, a four-time NBA champion and a gold medalist.
Despite his newcomer status in the league, James was thrust into leadership early on with the Redeem Team. Footage shows him making jokes and being a gregarious teammate, especially when Kobe Bryant, who was perceived by many on the team and around the league as reclusive, was added to the team. It’s funny seeing James so young and silly, a few years before he left Cleveland to join an exciting Miami team — a decision that put him in the hot seat.
Today, James has come full circle. He’s still the beloved player he was in the early aughts, but now he’s also a Los Angeles Laker, a dad making dad jokes on Twitter and an executive producer for The Redeem Team.
You can follow James on Instagram and Twitter.
Kobe Bryant played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996–2016, leading the Lakers to five championships. He left as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. He was also the first person in history to successfully give himself a nickname that actually stuck: the Black Mamba. Before Bryant died in 2020, he won an Academy Award for the film Dear Basketball in 2017. In The Redeem Team, Kobe is credited with shifting the work ethic of that young Olympic team from one that parties all night to one that was in the gym before the sun rises.
Krzyzewski coached Duke men’s basketball from 1980 to 2022, reaping five national titles for the Blue Devils and a lifetime of secondhand hatred from every other fan of college basketball. Coach K is known for winning, smirking after winning, being loathed, recruiting players who are easy to loathe and — crucially — more winning.
He was an assistant coach with the Dream Team in 1992 and confused the hearts of many Americans when he relieved Larry Brown of his duties as Team USA’s head coach in 2005. Did they have to cheer for him now? Did they have to… like him?
With the Redeem Team, Coach K focused on the abstract togetherness and the literal understanding of the FIBA rules. He understood the need to adjust to the international play style. He brought in speakers to inspire unity. Under him, players attended other events at the Olympic games and cheered on other athletes. Each Olympics and international tournament he led was a brief reprise: He was no longer winning with Duke, intolerably. He was just winning.
Coach K is not yet on social media, but it’s been said that retirement leads to new hobbies.
It’s a testament to the Redeem Team’s roster that Dwyane Wade is the second shooting guard worth mentioning on this list. As a three-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat, a Finals MVP and the 2009 scoring champion, Wade left a mark on the league and the US men’s national team. Unlike his Olympic teammate and close friend LeBron James, winning gold was not his first major tournament win. In 2006, Wade won his first ring with the Heat. It would be years later, in 2012, when he’d win his second — with LeBron as his teammate. Whether their time together on the Redeem Team led to camaraderie that later inspired the two teaming up… that’s all speculation!
Now retired, Wade owns a minority stake in the Utah Jazz and is an executive producer on The Redeem Team.
You can follow Wade on Instagram and Twitter.
Anthony played in the Olympics with the US National Team a record four times during his NBA career, during which he primarily played for the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks, followed by stints in Oklahoma City, Houston, Portland and Los Angeles. He is currently a free agent. Stay Melo.
