LeBron James is one of the greatest basketball players to ever pick up a ball and will undoubtedly be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame the moment he is eligible. But the Los Angeles Lakers superstar is technically already a Hall of Famer as a member of the 2008 USA Men’s Olympic Basketball Team known as the Redeem Team.
The Redeem Team featured numerous individual Hall of Famers such as Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Jason Kidd, Chris Bosh as well as Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony, both of whom were also inducted as individuals in 2025. The squad was famously put together to return Team USA to glory after the team came up short for the first time in prior Olympic and World Championship appearances and some consider it to be the best team ever put together.
LeBron will eventually have his day to be inducted on his own, but that didn’t stop him from appreciating this honor with the Redeem Team, as the Lakers superstar took to Instagram to express his excitement at his induction:
(@kingjames)Anytime you can call yourself a Hall of Famer it is a special honor, and for James to do so alongside a team that was so special, and also featured his closest friends in Anthony, Wade and Chris Paul, surely made it that much more meaningful.
The Redeem Team had a lot of pressure to succeed after Team USA finished sixth in the 2002 FIBA World Championship followed by bronze medals in both the 2004 Olympics and 2006 FIBA World Cup. They would do just that, dominating the competition throughout before having to dig deep in the gold medal game against an extremely talented Spain squad led by another Lakers legend in Pau Gasol.
The importance of this team is not lost on anyone and LeBron and everyone else on this team is deserving of the title as a Hall of Famer. The Redeem Team will be remembered forever and LeBron should be excited for this honor.
LeBron James calls Lakers legend Kobe Bryant the ‘missing link’ for Redeem Team
The Redeem Team was already shaping up to be a force, but it went to another level when Lakers legend Kobe Bryant committed to playing for Team USA. During the Hall of Fame speech LeBron James called Kobe the missing link for the Redeem Team while noting that him coming on made everybody else on the roster raise the bar to another level.
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