“Probably Could Have Won Without Kobe Bryant”: Carmelo Anthony Gets Candid About Lakers Legend’s Role in Redeem Team

On his podcast, ‘7 PM in Brooklyn‘, Carmelo Anthony shared his thoughts about Kobe Bryant’s influence on the 2008 USA Men’s Basketball Olympics team. While acknowledging that the team had enough talent to win the Olympic gold minus Bryant, he also pointed to his guest ‘Method Man’ about the impact of Bryant’s methods. These thoughts were brought up when the Wu-Tang clan artist asked Melo if the team selectors brought Bryant just for motivation.

Anthony told him that the road to victory became easier with Mamba who brought a next-level winning mentality.

“He[Kobe Bryant] was the last piece that we needed to do what we needed to do. We probably could have won without Kobe [Bryant] but it would have been tougher cuz everybody roles probably would have been different. Then what Kobe gave us, it would have been hard without him,” Melo told “The Wire” actor.

Melo referred to Kobe as a “heavy hitter” who “molded” the team. Then his co-host Kid Mero reminded him about the Olympics final moment when Kobe Bryant powered through his then-Lakers teammate Paul Gasol’s chest and went in his face. For the 2013 scoring champion, it was this mentality that motivated the younger group to get their competitive juices flowing.

It set the tone for them to approach the game with full intensity against their opponents, irrespective of their affiliations. Apart from Carmelo Anthony, his 2008 Olympics teammate Dwyane Wade also admired the Mamba Mentality during the Olympics Gold in 2008.

Dwyane Wade was in awe of Kobe Bryant’s presence

On October 7, 2022, Netflix released a documentary on the 2008 Olympics Men’s Basketball Gold Medal squad ‘The Redeem Team’. In the wake of the documentary, PEOPLE interviewed Dwyane Wade, who was a core part of the 2008 squad. During the interview, Wade opened up about how playing with one of his idols was an unforgettable lifetime experience.

Wade and Bryant were rivals all their careers, but the 3x NBA champion grew up watching the fierce competitor. He felt fortunate for the unprecedented experience he had with Bryant as a teammate. Wade bonded with Bryant a lot since both of them showed up at the gym early. Mamba acknowledged that ‘Flash’ was someone who also had a solid work ethic like him. 

“This[Kobe Bryant] is one of my idols growing up. 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? 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,” Flash told PEOPLE.

This mutual respect between the team’s two top shooting guards paved the way for a winning chemistry. It was the Mamba Mentality that prepared younger players like Wade and Anthony to play with full intensity. As time passed, Bryant’s body of work became even more prominent and defined.