Dwyane Wade Talks About Kobe Bryant's Importance to the 2008 'Redeem' Team: He 'Kicked Us Into Gear'

Photo: Joe Rimkus, Jr/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty

Allen Iverson. Tim Duncan.Dwyane Wade.Carmelo Anthony.LeBron James. It was a team that, on paper, looked nearly unstoppable.

But the 2004 United States men’s basketball squad — which also boasted the likes of Carlos Boozer, Lamar Odom, Shawn Marion and Stephon Marbury on its 12-man roster — only managed to win bronze despite being favorites to win it all.

“I think we all will say we were embarrassed, right?” 40-year-old Wade tells PEOPLE while reflecting back on the Athens Olympics. “We were the big bad Americans who got paid a lot of money to do what we do. We were the best in the world. And we went over there in ‘04 and we got smacked — just literally just smacked. That was very humbling and very embarrassing for us.”

Now, nearly two decades later, Wade is helping to tell the story about what happened after the 2004 Olympics, and how it laid the path for the birth of a special squad four years later in Netflix’sThe Redeem Team, which premieres Oct. 7.

The documentary shows how Team USA revamped its Olympics training program under the leadership of famed Blue Devils basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, after the embarrassment in Athens.

“For me, the biggest honor that I’ve ever had as a coach was to coach the United States team and our first championship was the Redeem Team,” Krzyzewski, 75, tells PEOPLE of coaching at the Olympics. “It was the greatest honor that first time, and to continue it four more times, was amazing. There is no bigger honor.”

Wade says the documentary also adds context about why the 2004 team did not live up to expectations.

“I think it’s very important for people to understand too that in ‘04, Carmelo, LeBron, and I got added to that team last minute,” he explains. “We were not supposed to be on that team. We were not ready to be on that team and we could not appreciate what it even meant to be an Olympian at that time.”

“For me it was a lot of things that happened from ‘04 to ‘08 in my personal life, from my divorce, custody battles and injuries, and questions if I was ever going to be the same again,” Wade recalls. “My whole life changed in those four years.”

“[The 2008 Olympics] were the most important moment for me at that point in my career,” he continues. “If I don’t perform, if we don’t win at that time, my career goes different. A lot of our careers go differently. Especially if we lose two Olympics in a row. What are we now? Where are we now?”

PHOTO: Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service via GettyPHOTO: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty

For the Redeem Team to succeed in 2008, chemistry had to form between fierce on-the-court rivals. One player, in particular, was instrumental in leading the team: Kobe Bryant.

“Kobe wasn’t a guy who anybody thought would play on the Olympic team,” Wade says of Bryant, who had already won three of his five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. “Everyone thought Kobe was about Kobe. And he showed up and said, ‘I’m tired of watching y’all lose, let’s get it.’ And he became a different version of the Kobe that we knew.”

“We watched a reshaping of Kobe Bryant right there in front of our eyes,” he added. “And a lot of that had to do with us building these bonds and relationships. So it was special for each of us during that time.”

RELATED VIDEO: Fans Remember Kobe and Gianna Bryant

Wade says he did not take playing with Bryant —who died in a helicopter crash in January 2020— for granted.

“This is one of my idols growing up,” he recalls. “I’m competing against him, and that was crazy enough. But now I get to be with him every day for over a month and for two years in a row, how lucky am I?”

“He kicked us into gear. It put our mindset and our focus somewhere else,” Wade adds. “And so me and Kobe, we bonded over being in the gym together at six in the morning. We bonded over that, and that’s how we started. That was our language. Our language was being in there early, looking at each other like, okay, I see you. And it just built from there.”

Wade said he hope fans who watchThe Redeem Teamwalk away with the understanding that each player knew they were playing for something more than themselves.

“It was not just about us redeeming ourselves with a win because we lost and we got embarrassed,” he says. “This is about the pride of this country we support, live in, and love.”

source: people.com