LeBron James, Dwyane Wade to help produce Netflix documentary on 2008 Olympic basketball team
A documentary highlighting the 2008 United States men's Olympic basketball team is set to hit Netflix later this fall, according to Deadline. The film, called "The Redeem Team," will tell the story of the U.S.'s return to international basketball glory in the Beijing Olympics after floundering to a third-place finish four years earlier. Netflix partnered with the International Olympic Committee and LeBron James' media company, Uninterrupted.
It will be directed by Jon Weinbach, one of the producers of "The Last Dance" documentary about the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. "The Redeem Team" names James, Dwyane Wade and Maverick Carter among its executive producers.
“In 2008, I played with heroes of mine, all-stars, friends and future teammates," Wade said, per Deadline. "Outside of winning and showing the world that we were still the most dominant, our other big challenge was changing the perception of what everyone thought about the NBA and USA Basketball!”
That 2008 squad was loaded with NBA talent with four years of built-up frustration after finishing the 2004 Olympics in Athens with only a bronze medal after falling to Argentina in the semifinals. In 2008, the U.S. returned with a new head coach in Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and an updated roster that included Jason Kidd, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant — who missed the previous Olympics while dealing with his sexual assault case.
That team didn't lose a game in Athens and finished with a +223 point differential and a gold medal. Wade led the team with 16.1 points per game.
The ramifications of that Olympic run were felt throughout the NBA for the next decade. The biggest, perhaps, was James finding his killer instinct playing next to Bryant and later teaming up with Olympic running mates Wade and Bosh on the Miami Heat two years later. While the players changed over the years, the U.S. has won the past three gold medals since the Redeem Team.
“They didn’t have to be the best player on the Knicks, Cavs, Heat or whatever," Krzyzewski said 2018." They were an outstanding player on a U.S. team, and they developed friendships that they may have already had, but they were done at a different level. That familiarity and friendship has helped the NBA. It’s helped basketball, and as a result, probably gave them ideas about what they might be able to do in the future.”
Now, fans will be able to see those bonds form on Netflix with never-before-seen footage. If it's anything like "The Last Dance," this should be a must-watch show.
