The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as the United States men's national basketball team, is the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in all eighteen Olympic tournaments it has entered, coming away with fifteen golds. In the professional era, the team won the Olympic gold medal in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016. Two of its gold medal-winning teams were inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in August 2010 – the 1960 team, which featured six Hall of Famers, and the 1992 "Dream Team", featuring 14 Hall of Famers. The team is currently ranked first in the FIBA World Rankings.
LeBron Raymone James Sr. is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His accomplishments include three NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, three NBA Finals MVP Awards, and two Olympic gold medals. James has appeared in fifteen NBA All-Star Games and been named NBA All-Star MVP three times. He won the 2008 NBA scoring title, is the all-time NBA playoffs scoring leader, and is fourth in all-time career points scored. He has been voted onto the All-NBA First Team twelve times and the All-Defensive First Team five times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's basketball. Knoxville is known for having a large women's basketball following as well as being the home of the University of Tennessee's Lady Vols basketball team previously coached by women's coach Pat Summitt, who was part of the first class inducted. With the 2017 Induction, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame celebrated its 19th anniversary and added six new members to its hall, honoring 157 inductees.
Suzanne Brigit Bird, commonly known as Sue Bird, is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Bird was drafted by the Storm first overall in the 2002 WNBA Draft. She holds a front office position for the NBA's Denver Nuggets as their Basketball Operations Associate. She also played for three teams in Russia.
Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association. After a successful college basketball career with the Marquette Golden Eagles, Wade was drafted fifth overall in the 2003 NBA draft by the Heat. In his third season, Wade led the Heat to their first NBA Championship in franchise history and was named the 2006 NBA Finals MVP. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Wade led the United States men's basketball team, commonly known as the "Redeem Team", in scoring and helped them capture the gold medal. In the 2008–09 season, Wade led the league in scoring and earned his first NBA scoring title. With LeBron James and Chris Bosh, Wade helped guide Miami to four consecutive NBA Finals from 2011 to 2014, winning back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. After playing for the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Wade was traded back to Miami in February 2018. A 13-time NBA All-Star, Wade is Miami's all-time leader in points, games, assists and steals, shots made and shots taken.
Edmund McCullough Cameron was an American football and basketball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head basketball coach at Washington and Lee University for one season in 1924–25 and at Duke University from 1928 to 1942, compiling a career college basketball record of 234–104. Cameron was also the head football coach at Duke University from 1942 to 1945, tallying a mark of 25–11–1, and the athletic director at the school from 1951 to 1972. Cameron was part of Duke athletics from 1926 to 1972, the second longest tenure in the school's history. Duke's home basketball arena was renamed as Cameron Indoor Stadium in his honor in 1972.
DeLisha Lachell Milton-Jones is an American retired professional basketball player and assistant coach of the Syracuse Orange women's basketball team. From 2017 to 2019, she coached the Pepperdine Waves women's basketball team. Milton-Jones played college basketball for the University of Florida. In her seventeen-season WNBA career, she has played for the Washington Mystics, the Los Angeles Sparks (twice), the San Antonio Stars, and the New York Liberty. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a two-time WNBA champion, and has been selected to the WNBA All-Star Game three times.
Sophia Yvonne Ashley Young is a retired Vincentian/American professional women's basketball player with the San Antonio Stars in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Edwige Lawson, also Edwige Lawson-Wade, is a French professional women's basketball player. In the US, Lawson most recently played for the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars, and has played in numerous other professional basketball leagues as well. She started her professional career at the age of 17. She has played in Bordeaux, Aix-en-Provence, and Valenciennes in France. She has also played in the WNBA for the New York Liberty, the Houston Comets and the Seattle Storm. She is currently the starting point guard for CSKA Moscow in the Russian Superleague. Edwige also plays as the starting point guard for the France national women's basketball team, with whom she won a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Her resume includes three French championships, two Russian championships, three FIBA World League titles and three Euroleague titles and one European Championship with France. Edwige was the three-point competition champion at the 2008 FIBA Europe all-star game. Edwige is married to professional basketball player and coach James Wade. They had a son James "Jet" Wade III. Edwige is of Beninese descent through her father.
Clarissa Davis is former Texas women's basketball All-American, who is also known as Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil. She is a National Player of the Year, Olympic and pro standout, and was inducted into The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in April 2006. She was one of six inductees in the Class of 2006, which features four former players and two coaches. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Davis played under coach Mike Floyd at John Jay High School before playing at the University of Texas. She also played basketball in Europe with Galatasaray Istanbul and Fenerbahçe Istanbul in Turkey and won Turkish Championships with both of these rival clubs.
Harry Arthur Wade was a Canadian basketball player, from Windsor, Ontario, who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Lily Margaret Wade was an American basketball player and coach.
Li-Ning Co., Ltd. is a Chinese company which makes athletic shoes and sporting goods. The company endorses a number of athletes and teams, both in China and around the world.
Janice Faye Lawrence Braxton is an American professional women's basketball player. She was born in Lucedale, Mississippi.
Brittney Yevette Griner is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and in Russia for UMMC Ekaterinburg. She played college basketball at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She is the only NCAA basketball player to score 2,000 points and block 500 shots. In 2012, the three-time All-American was named the AP Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
The 2008 Olympics U.S. Men's Basketball Team represented the United States of America at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. They qualified for the Olympics by winning the FIBA American Championships 2007 held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team was nicknamed the "Redeem Team", a play on an alternative name for the legendary 1992 squad that was called the "Dream Team", and a reference to the fact that the United States came away with disappointing Bronze Medals during the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Kobe Bryant was named the team captain and Mike Krzyzewski was named the head coach of the 2008 team. LeBron James, called the "voice of the U.S. team" by Time, stated: "It's the gold, or it's failure." An ESPN program, Road to Redemption, followed the team's preparations.
Daedra Janel Charles was an American women's basketball player and assistant coach at Tennessee. She was a member of the United States women's national basketball team that claimed the bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Charles attended the University of Tennessee. She twice helped Tennessee win the NCAA Women's Championship in 1989 and 1991.
Jared Frayer of Miami, Florida is an American wrestler who won the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials at 66 kg FS and thus competed at the 2012 Olympics.
The Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters are a Women's Basketball club from Sheffield, England, who play their home games at All Saints Catholic High School's Sports Centre. The club have been mainstays of the women's game in England for many years, having celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2011, and are founder members of the professional Women's British Basketball League, which launched in 2014.
The 2004 United States men's Olympic basketball team competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The team was led by Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown. The team was noted for being one of the most disappointing USA men's Olympic teams, after it lost three games in the Olympics against its opponents, which is the most games ever lost by a USA men's Olympic basketball team.
