Dwyane Wade was in Chicago in 2007, working out after suffering an injury earlier in the year while playing for the Miami Heat.
There to meet with Wade and his agent Tim Grover was Jerry Colangelo, then-managing director of the United States men’s basketball national team program and current chairman of the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Time was running out for the United States to select its team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Whatever the squad, the US couldn’t let a repeat of 2004 happen again, where the national team picked up its third, fourth and fifth Olympic losses and settled for a bronze medal.