@inabudhabi (DR) / First We Feast (DR)

Olympic champion in Paris, the 2024 version of Team USA impressed many people. However, this did not prevent Carmelo Anthony, legend of the American selection, from making a resounding clarification about his all-time status.

Where does Team USA from the Paris Olympics rank in the all-time rankings?

For weeks, this crazy squad composed of LeBron James , Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant has been regularly compared to the 1992 Dream Team, for example.

For some, it is simply the best American selection of all time… Carmelo Anthony, however, is not part of it at all.

The winger was one of the greatest players in Team USA history during his career and therefore knows what he’s talking about.

Asked by Basket News , he gave his opinion on the subject and decided in favor of… the Redeem Team of the Beijing Games in 2008, of which he was a part.

Recalling that it was aptly named since it was supposed to clear the honor of the United States, after the failures of the Athens Games in 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.

Redeem Team Above Team USA 2024 According to Melo

I put 2008 first because of the enormous pressure we were under in 2008.

The other teams didn’t feel that pressure.

We felt it. I think the 1992 Dream Team was what established the level of dominance that the United States could have on the international stage.

It was the first time that you had all the best players come together and compete before basketball became global.

In 2008, we were able to put together a team like the Dream Team did because we knew that for it to work, we had to bring in the best of the best, the best of the best. We don’t want to be compared to the 1992 team, we want to be our own team.

We wanted to be our own team, to have our own energy, so I think in 2008, what gave us that motivation was the fact that we were coming off two losses in 2004 and 2006.

The fact that we were able to bounce back like that and come together and bring in the best players, all the best players at that time, makes the 2008 team way more special to me than anything else.

The 2024 team is just like, ‘We’re going to put the best players together and let’s go try to win gold.’

It’s kind of like the Avengers. But the 2008 team was really structured, there was a strategy behind it.

Every player was well chosen and given a certain role within that team.

I can only base it on the teams I’ve been a part of, but the 2008 team was really special.

The 2024 Team USA was incredible, no doubt about it. But in Carmelo Anthony’s eyes, it still doesn’t hold a candle to the 2008 Redeem Team because that team had a real vision after two huge failures in a row.