Dwyane Wade recalls thrill of hugging Kobe Bryant at 2008 Gold Medal: 'We're just two kids who love the game'

1000 Held in Beijing The men’s basketball gold medal match – a tense showdown between the superstars USA and reigning world champion Spain – when Dwyane Wade dribbled past a Guard stopped just as his foot touched the paint. Wade then passed the ball to Kobe Bryant , open, just over the three-point line.

“I found him across the court and he stabbed, lifted and hit a 3. It was at that moment that we realized it was over,” Wade said Thursday night. recalled on the red carpet of the

Netflix documentary . The Redemption Team outside Netflix’s Tudum Theater in Hollywood. He knew the game very well because it was one of his favorite games and ended up with Wade, Kobe, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, Dwight Howard, Deron Williams, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Tayshaun Prince and Michael Redd scored 87-87.

Netflix stills ) Redemption featuring Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant . Courtesy of Netflix/IOC/John Huet

This is also a moment in Jon Weinbach’s new Netflix film detailing USA Basketball’s Olympics on the stage. It contains a series of new interviews with the team, as well as some never-before-seen footage of Kobe Bryant with his wife Vanessa and their daughter, including the death of of Gianna Bryant. Helicopter crash with her father in January , 2020.

Wade, the Executive Producer of The Document, with Weinbach and Redeem Team Insider at the premiere on Frank Marshall , Mike Tollin, Diego Hurtado De Mendoza, Philip Byron, Greg Groggel, Mark Parkman, Jonathan Vogler, and more. Aside from his favorite game, Wade shared at the gold medal ceremony what winning the gold medal and shaking hands with Kobe meant to him.

“exist2008, that was a very important moment in Kobe’s personal life and it was a very important moment for me as I was rebuilding and trying to get my name back, coming back from injury,” Wei said. De said he was walking on the carpet with his wife Gabriel Union . “It was special to be able to stand there and play alongside one of my favorite players and be my brother during that time. We could lock our arms and just look at each other and get dizzy like kids. Take Kobe Bryant Bryant and Dwyane Wade were left out, we were just two kids who loved playing basketball. To have the opportunity to do that on one of the biggest stages in the world was amazing.”

For Weinbach, flipping through footage is “emotional”.

“I grew up in Los Angeles and was a Lakers fanatic. I was two years older than Kobe and I had two boys,” he explained. “As a Lakers fan, I had a new appreciation for Kobe in those Olympics because when the chips were low and they really needed a bucket, it was Kobe who opened it. I wanted to tell that story.”

Weinbach said they started the documentation process before Bryant died, and after the tragedy, “it added another layer of responsibility.”

Marshall felt the weight too. “One of the reasons I signed up was because we had access to the Olympic Archives,” he explained of the agreement with the IOC that allows access to previously unavailable material or footage that was “too expensive” to obtain license. “In those four years between Athens and Beijing, I didn’t see any of these shots they shot. That’s why I love the documentation and discovery process, not my day job, where I know exactly what I’m doing a day What every moment in the world is doing. To be able to find footage like Kobe’s birthday, that’s a great celebration, and we can weave the incredible into the story.”

they did so with the blessing of Kobe’s family: “Everything we’ve done with the family on this particular document. We’re very sensitive to everyone and me in those documents, as long as it happens and it’s real, Then we know it’s correct. But we also want to respect the feelings of the Kobe family.”

Redeem Team on Netflix starting October 7th.

Diego Hurtado De Mendoza, Netflix’s Dan Silver, SpringHill’s Philip Byron, Greg Groggel, Netflix’s Lisa Nishimura, Mark Parkman, Mike Tollin, Jon Weinbach, Dwyane Wade, Frank Marshall, Dwight Howard, and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos. By Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix supply

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