The Dream Team featured Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley.
The Redeem Team had LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony in their primes.
So which gold medal-winning Olympic team was better?
It’s easy to pick a 1992 Dream Team that changed international basketball and lifted the NBA to another level.
But the 2008 Redeem Team was a perfect 8-0 in the Olympics and beat much tougher competition.
“Every one of the Redeem Team’s games is peak cinema,” one fan tweeted.
This is a fact: Without the Dream Team, there wouldn’t have been a Redeem Team.
In April 1989, FIBA passed a landmark agreement that allowed for the inclusion of America’s professional basketball players in the Olympic Games.
When the Dream Team arrived in Barcelona, Spain, the world watched Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, David Robinson and Patrick Ewing literally dominate the opposition.
The 1992 Dream Team went 8-0 while winning games by an average of 44 points.
Coach Chuck Daly never used a timeout during surreal blowouts that saw the US beat Angola 116-48, defeat Germany 111-68, overpower Spain 122-81 and erase Croatia 117-85 to win the gold medal.
The starting rotation fluctuated, with only Jordan starting all eight contests.
Barkley, Ewing, Malone, Robinson and Johnson started no more than five games, while Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler and Bird recorded three starts apiece.
Barkley led Team USA in scoring in 1992 with 18 points.
Mullin sank 14 of 26 3-pointers during an era when 3s were rare in the NBA.
The US was on top of the basketball world and had no competition.
“In 1992, the world wasn’t anywhere close to as good as it is now in terms of basketball popularity and globalization of the game,” said Steve Kerr, head coach of the 2024 USA team.
In 2008, Bryant was the perfect captain of a loaded team that was seeking to avenge a highly frustrating bronze medal finish four years prior.
Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili and Pau Gasol had helped elevate international basketball in the NBA, leading to the current dominance of Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
” ‘Kobe you’re here to play with us, we’re here to play with you,’ ” Anthony told Bryant. ” ‘We don’t need Laker Kobe, we need Team USA Kobe. He was like, ‘I get it, I understand it. I’m tired of watching y’all lose.’ “
The 2008 team was loaded at the top with James, Bryant, Wade, Paul and Anthony all in their athletic primes, and had complimentary players such as Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Deron Williams and Michael Redd.
Despite facing tougher competition in Beijing, China, Team USA beat China 101-70 in its 2008 Olympic opener and blew out Greece 92-69.
Angola was only defeated by 21 points, though, which was a 47-point difference compared to the Dream Team’s 1992 victory.
Tilting in the Redeem Team’s favor is a 106-57 blowout of Germany and 116-85 trouncing of Australia.
Playing with passion on the hardwood and revenge in mind, the 2008 squad unleashed the most powerful USA basketball performance in 16 years.
History and fame will always defer to the Dream Team.
The idea of Jordan, Barkley, Johnson and Bird playing for the same team in 1992 was hard to imagine and surreal to watch.
But stats, modern star power and tougher competition make the Redeem Team a worthy opponent for what’s widely perceived to be the greatest basketball team of all-time.
The only shame is that it’s impossible for the Dream Team and Redeem Team to play each other in the Olympics.
Kerr believes that his 2024 team heading to Paris has 12 future Hall of Famers and could define greatness again.
Steph Curry will play in the Olympics for the first time and team up with James, a former rival, in the hope of delivering another gold medal that the 1992 and 2008 teams would be proud of.
The Olympics are on talkSPORT this summer, and you can tune in via our free online streaming service at talkSPORT.com