Former Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd was brutally honest as Team USA’s “Redeem Team” was entered this weekend as a team entry in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Kidd provided a veteran presence to the winning effort, but played only a little over 13 minutes per game, averaging 1.6 points and two assists.
“I might have been the captain, but I was more like the water boy, the towel boy…,” Kidd said. Asked everybody what Gatorade colour they liked.”
All-Star LeBron James quickly gave Kidd credit for having an impeccable international resume.
“Stop it…,” James said. “He's the only one that's never lost a game in international play ever.”
Kidd won two Olympic gold medals with Team USA. His first victory came in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics before his time with the “Redeem Team” in 2008.
The 2008 team represented a needed change of pace for Team USA, which had suffered several heartbreaking losses in the years prior. They fell to Puerto Rico in Athens in the 2004 Olympic opener, and ultimately finished with the bronze medal after Argentina knocked them out of the gold medal game.
Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski eventually took over the reins, and former Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant also joined Team USA in 2007 before the 2008 games in Beijing.
“I felt joy, I felt a relief,” Carmelo Anthony said in the Netflix 2022 documentary on the Redeem Team. “Like, all right, we did it. We came together for a cause.
“My jersey didn’t have ‘Denver Nuggets’ on there. ‘Bron didn’t have ‘Cleveland,’ Kobe didn’t have ‘Lakers.’ We had ‘USA.’”
Team USA has brought home gold from every Olympics since Kidd and the “Redeem Team” graced the hardwood.
