Why Running Through Pau Gasol’s Chest Guaranteed Kobe Bryant a Gold Medal

Team USA has a rich basketball history at the Summer Olympics—20 appearances, 17 gold. Including an unbeaten streak from 1936 to 1968. Then came the 1992 Dream Team of Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird. Greatest team to play: a belief that still stands strong today. Two more golds followed, but in 2004, fortunes took a nose-dive. Team USA settled for bronze, and the situation demanded a shake-up.

Enter the Redeem Team. 2008, with Kobe Bryant at the helm, wearing the number 10.

National Duty called for #10, but his NBA jersey numbers 8 and 24 stayed close to his heart. And fate scripted it perfectly. On 08/24/08, Kobe reminded the world exactly why those numbers would live forever.

Beijing. Gold medal game. USA vs. Spain, but above all, a friendship on the line.

Kobe and his squad entered the fourth quarter with a 9-point lead, but the advantage began to slip away bit by bit. With 2:08 left on the clock, the USA was clinging to a 4-point advantage that felt like it could vanish in a heartbeat (108-104). Wade hit a three to take the lead to 7. Kobe hit another 4 points to stretch the lead. Gasol and Co. still tried, but with 118-107 on the board in the last seconds, and too little to play, the whistle blew. The Redeem Team’s crown jewel moment arrived, sealed by the Black Mamba himself with an in-your-chest, brutally unforgettable declaration. But it wasn’t just in the last minutes.

From the opening minutes of the Spain showdown, Kobe locked eyes with his Lakers brother-turned-rival for the night, Pau Gasol. At one point, he pushed Pau to the floor.

“I’m running through that m——— [Pau’s] chest.”

Brother in Los Angeles, but not when Team USA calls.

Kobe made sure everyone knew he wasn’t there to play nice. And just like that, the world saw what “mamba” mentality meant when Team USA reclaimed the throne in Beijing. That moment, captured in the Redeem Team documentary, was the essence of Bryant.

Ruthless and calculated, he explained all too well with that iconic finger-to-lips “silencer.”

Fast forward to 2025, the Redeem Team is officially entering the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, and… hovering above them all, Kobe Bryant. But the frame will miss who made every moment count when the Redeem Team gets on the stage, wearing the orange jacket with the Basketball Hall of Fame logo glowing bright.

For Lakers fans, it’s a weight that settles on the chest, heavy and unshakable, because they witnessed a boy grow in their shell.

From Black Mamba to the Redeem Team 

Draft night 1996: traded by Charlotte to Los Angeles before he even touched the floor. He was just a teenager with an ego some veterans resented, and a fearlessness no one, absolutely no one, could deny.

Even Shaquille O’Neal, who apparently wasn’t okay with Kobe’s hype in LA, later in 2022 said, “Kobe and I pushed one another to play some of the greatest basketball of all time … And, yes, sometimes, like immature kids, we argued, we fought, we bantered or insulted each other with off-handed remarks,” O’Neal said in his speech. “But make no mistake, even when folks thought we were on bad terms, when the cameras were turned off, he and I would throw a wink at each other and say, ‘Let’s go whoop some ass.’”  

• By 2000, though, that “whoop some ass” mindset turned into championships.

Three in a row alongside Shaq. Bryant averaged over 28.5 points per game in the 2000-01 title run, including a 48-point banger against Sacramento in Game 4. They won it 4-0. His resume was already Hall-worthy before he turned 25, and yet, he never felt satisfied.

That hunger birthed the “Black Mamba.”

If you were wondering, the nickname wasn’t marketing fluff. Kobe explained it himself: the snake strikes with 99% accuracy, fast and lethal. That’s who he wanted to be on the court: unforgiving. “I am that killer snake. I’m stone cold, man.” Three rings by 2005, but he wasn’t done yet.

The iconic 81-point game in 2006 again made headlines. A record that still stands tall today! (most points by anyone in a game in the last 5 decades in the NBA!) Then that MVP season in 2008. And the relentless practice habits.

LeBron James has even admitted a few times that he looked up to Kobe, studying his work ethic. The message from that became pretty simple: even the game’s brightest stars measured themselves against him. However, the Olympics required something different. It asked for a leader who could demand excellence from the world’s best.

• The 2004 Athens debacle haunted USA Basketball. Bronze. Headlines, ‘What did we just watch?’ perceived it as the end of American dominance.

The Redeem Team in 2008 had one mission. And that was to reclaim respect. Coach Mike Krzyzewski built the framework, but Kobe supplied the ferocity. Dwyane Wade said it plainly: “Kobe wasn’t supposed to be that guy. But he showed up and said, ‘I’m tired of watching y’all lose, let’s get it.’ And he became a different version of Kobe.”

That version defended the best perimeter scorers. Woke up at 4 a.m. to hit the gym, forcing others like Wade and LeBron to follow. Kobe didn’t just join the Redeem Team. He bent it to his standard. And then came Spain.

The final wasn’t a formality. Gasol, Rubio, Fernandez… they pushed Team USA to the edge. With eight minutes left, the U.S. lead was down to two. The crowd was surging. Upset in the air. 

Wade hit 27 to keep Spain in check that day. Kobe scored another twenty points, and each basket broke Spain’s spirit. LeBron recalled it years later: “He said he was gonna set the tone…” Pau Gasol remembered it as brutal but necessary…

“He just went right to the middle of my chest, tried to get right through me to send a message, not just to me, but to his teammates, saying, ‘Hey, this might be my brother, I play with him, we’re close, but I don’t care about anything else but winning.”

Team USA finished undefeated with an average margin of nearly 28 points per game. After gold, the aggression took a different shape.

Kobe hugged Gasol tight after the whistle blew. We are still brothers, Lakers heard.

Kobe left Pau his gold medal in his Lakers locker afterward, a message taped to it: “Don’t allow yourself to lose again this season. We got to win the championship. No more losing. You cannot allow yourself to lose.‌” Gasol then said, “So that’s how he kind of motivated me to step it up a notch that season.” That was Kobe. Demand more.

Which reminds me of a really funny, but totally Kobe-being-Kobe kind of video I saw on Instagram the other day. Kanye West, trying to measure his own empire, asks, “How much more successful do you want me to be?” Kobe’s answer? “More successful.” Kanye pushed further: “How many records can my records break?” And Kobe, unflinching, fires back: “More records.” Kanye stammers, “But, but I’m the best.” Kobe leans in, intensity simmering through every word.

“But are you a different animal and the same beast?” Kanye took a pause. “What the f**k does that mean, Kobe Bryant?” And Kobe again, absolute, as if stating a law of nature: “You’re welcome.” Kanye’s reaction said it all: “What the f**k is he talking about?” That’s Kobe. 

On the court, the Laker No. 24 demanded perfection. Off it, he lived it…

The same fire and the same Mamba Mentality were turning success into inevitability. That way, the Redeem Team restored U.S. dominance.

Hall of Fame Immortality and Bryant’s Legacy That Lives On

Kobe Bryant never lost with Team USA. A perfect 36–0. Two gold medals. But his final basketball chapter was written too soon. January 2020 took him, his daughter Gianna, and seven others. The shock froze the basketball world. A void still unfilled.

When Vanessa Bryant stood on stage at the 2021 Hall of Fame induction, she spoke words that cut through the silence: “He was humble [off the court], but bigger than life. Thank you for inspiring us to be better than we were the day before… Thank you for bringing so much joy… you’re a true champ.” She reminded everyone that beyond the stats of five championships, 18 All-Star nods, and an MVP, Kobe’s proudest role was father. The “girl dad.”

Michael Jordan, who had called Kobe his brother, broke down in tears at the memorial: “When Kobe died, a little piece of me died,” as it did with all of us basketball loyalists. Now that the bond was real, mentor to protégé, iron sharpening iron.

The torch had passed, but it burned shorter than anyone could have imagined. Yet his influence hasn’t faded. 

Steph Curry spoke about Kobe’s mentorship on how conversations about mindset shaped his approach. Jayson Tatum wore Kobe’s number 10 in Tokyo. Devin Booker has dedicated playoff runs to him. Kendrick Perkins highlighted what Kobe Bryant was to Kyrie Irving:

“He idolized and looked up to Kob so much that he didn’t give Bron the chance to be that big brother figure, even when y’all wanted. I wasn’t there, but I’m keeping it real. Kyrie never really looked at Bron as like that big brother. Kob was that big brother to Kyrie.”

Every generation since then still chases the ghost of Mamba Mentality. It became an obsession for more.

LeBron summed it up: “I promise you I’ll continue your legacy, man,” as he once wrote on Instagram. “Please give me the strength from the heavens above and watch over me! I got US here!” Even LeBron, chasing his own claim as the greatest, admits Kobe’s standard remains unshakable.

We know you know > Kobe Bryant’s reach extended beyond the NBA world. 

• He championed women’s basketball, coaching Gianna’s team with the same rigor he applied to himself.
• He won an Oscar for Dear Basketball, showing his artistry wasn’t confined to hardwood.
• And in China, his popularity overshadowed even Yao Ming, so to speak. His jersey sales, his social media footprint, the tributes after his passing… all evidence of a global icon, which itself feels like an understatement at this point. 

Now, the Redeem Team joins the Hall of Fame. Coach K said it best: “I wish like crazy that Kobe was here because he was really the key guy, I think, because as many great players as we had at that point, he was the greatest and everyone looked up to him.” LeBron, Wade, Melo, and all will celebrate together. But the cheers will carry an echo. A seat will always remain empty.

I’ve always thought that chest-first collision with Pau Gasol symbolized more than a play. It was Kobe’s career in miniature. Winning demanded sacrifice, even at the expense of friendship. And yet, years later, Pau would call him the “closest thing to a big brother that I’ve had in my life,” and Vanessa would call Pau family. The love remained. And that’s exactly the paradox of Kobe. Ruthless on the floor, tender off it.

When the Redeem Team walks into the Hall in 2025, Kobe’s shadow walks with them. You’ll see it in the highlights, in the quotes, in the memories. You’ll feel it in the silence when his name is called, and no one steps forward to accept. Because this honor belongs to him as much as anyone.

That August held a special kind of magic. On the eve of the final, Kobe turned 30; the next day, he handed America gold.