“Look, Kobe was one of my players. I coached him on three teams. He was my leader.” An emotional coach, Mike Krzyzewski, spoke about Kobe Bryant’s impact on the team USA at the Olympics, especially in 2008. The Lakers legend was one of the co-captains on the team and led them to a solid gold to recover from the bronze debacle of 2004. A former member of the Redeem Team recently described the importance of the style despite the team having superstars in the roster.

The team consisted of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and more. It was the same Olympics moment where we got Kobe Bryant shoulder tackling his Lakers teammate but opposition on the day, Pau Gasol. Ahead of the game, Kobe even called the Spaniard his brother, but he would run through him in the first few minutes. This was a calculated lesson that a 4x NBA champion spoke to the USA team beforehand. We have heard many iterations of the story, and this time, we have the team member Michael Redd.

“But Kobe did right and I think he knew who to do it to. He did it to his brother; he knew he wouldn’t respond too. So I’m gonna do this to demonstrate a certain mentality that you have to have to win this game, because remember, the LeBron was young.” The former Bucks sharpshooter insisted that since the team had more young superstars, Bryant took it upon himself to set the winning mentality.

“LeBron was 23, Carmelo was young, Chris Paul was young, Dwight was young, most of our team was young guys…So Kobe was kind of being an alpha in that moment of demonstrating how serious you need to take this.” During an appearance on the Thanalysis Show, the former Olympian shared the lesson behind the moment. With that moment in mind, let’s remind you that the entire 2008 Redeem Team will be part of the 2025 Hall of Fame induction.

Interestingly, Melo and Howard are also part of the induction as individual players.

Kobe Bryant set to make history with 2008 Team’s HoF induction

As stated earlier, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard will be up for the honor twice. Similarly, it will be the second that Black Mamba will be part of the Hall. Kobe was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021, just a year after his heartbreaking passing. It was not the first time a player received that honor posthumously.

After the recent announcement, the Lakers legend became the first player ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame twice after his death. That’s why Coach K got emotional speaking about Kobe Bryant. “I wish like crazy that Kobe was here. Because he was really the key guy, I think, because as many great players as we had at that point. He was the greatest…” 

Even now, 17 years later, people talk about that 2008 squad like legends. And Kobe? The five-time NBA champ pushed everyone with his unmatched focus and brutal work ethic.