Kobe Bryant was among the most understanding legends of the sport to sympathize with Team USA in its recent failure to medal at the 2019 FIBA World Cup. The sentiment at large is that USA Basketball couldn't send the best team the United States could have brought to compete, but Bryant noted a stacked 2008 Team USA roster — known as the “Redeem Team” after the program's failure to capture gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics — also had its fair share of challenges.
“I hear that a lot: ‘Did we send the best possible team that we can put out there?'” Bryant told ESPN's Brian Windhorst.
“You have to remember, on the Redeem Team we needed a hell of a fourth quarter to beat Spain. That was a hell of a team we had. We still needed a real late push to beat Spain in that gold-medal match. So I say that to say put the best players that you think are going to make the best U.S. team out on the floor, we are still going to have challenges. It's not going to be a cakewalk. The days of the '92 Barcelona Dream Team are gone. They're over, so it's going to be tough.”
That Redeem Team had a who's who of NBA talent, featuring LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Bryant, and many other All-NBA stars.
The rest of the world has simply caught up and gotten increasingly better at the sport, a testament to the popularity of the NBA and its constant efforts to bring the game to other countries.
It will no longer be a cakewalk, as Bryant says, considering that the level of play has starkly changed over the past decade, with many other nations having more than a puncher's chance to net the gold in competition.
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