The Dream Team, the greatest basketball squad of all time, demolished everyone en route to winning the gold medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics. They never came close to losing a game. However, they did lose a scrimmage. And shockingly, they were defeated by college kids.
Some details have been lost, forgotten, or never told. The new HBO documentary We Beat the Dream Team takes viewers behind the scenes of an incredible upset that few people have ever seen and even fewer people still talk about.
We recently chatted with director Michael Tolajian to learn more about his film. We Beat the Dream Team will debut on HBO and stream on Max on Feb. 17. It is a collaboration between TNT Sports, HBO Sports Documentaries, and Blue Ox Films.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Awful Announcing: Why should someone watch your documentary?
Michael Tolajian: “It’s one of the great underdog David and Goliath stories that may have been lost in the annals of basketball history. It’s got huge names. It’s the Dream Team: Jordan, Bird, Magic, Pippen, and Charles Barkley. Then you got this group of college players going up against the greatest basketball team ever assembled. We have tracked down the one surviving VHS tape of that scrimmage that exists. Folks will get to see the evidence, and a lot of it, and hear first-hand recollections from the players. It’s got a lot of great elements that I think sports fans, basketball fans, and even more casual fans will have fun with.”
How did you get involved in this project?
“I’m a huge basketball fan. I’ve worked with the NBA since the early 90s. I was working there just out of college when the Dream Team was put together and when this training camp and scrimmage happened. Throughout my career, I’ve done other projects with some of these same names, some of these great players, both on the Select Team and the Dream Team. So, it was just a great opportunity to revisit that time with these legends and this story, which has become an urban legend somewhat. It was a lot of fun for me to sit down with these guys. Some for the first time and some I hadn’t spoken with in years.”
What would you consider the most fascinating detail you discovered?
“What was eye-opening was how little the college players knew about what was happening. They were just told, ‘We want you to be part of this team. You’re going to get on a flight. You’re going to go to UC San Diego and you’re going to work with the Dream Team. They didn’t know if they were going to scrimmage, if they were going to run some sets, if they were going to play defense against them, if they were going to rebound for them. They had no clue. It wasn’t until maybe, an hour before that scrimmage happened that they were told like, ‘Hey, you’re actually going to play a game with referees and clock and all that stuff.”
How eager were members of the Select Team to talk?
“They were super eager to tell this story. They were rubbing their hands together saying, ‘Mike, I’ve been waiting 32 years for someone to ask me about this story.’ Whenever you have highly motivated subjects, it always makes for a fun production.”
Who was the most eager?
“Grant Hill was very passionate about it. Grant plays an important role, but all the guys were super amenable and excited. I would say after Grant, Chris Webber. I believe the last interview we got was with Chris. We had booked for maybe a 45-minute interview. It turned into a three-hour interview because he had a lot to say. He was emotional. He was charismatic. He remembered it like it was yesterday.”
How long did this project take?
“We started filming interviews in November 2023. We had the film finished for the most part by maybe August 2024. We were trying to figure out when we should air it. Should we try to get it ready for the Olympics? But we didn’t quite have enough time. And then we were working with HBO Max and TNT Sports to figure out the best time. We felt like after the Super Bowl, right after the NBA All-Star Game would be a great time to release it.”
What was the hardest part of doing this documentary?
“Having to fly all over the country in a very condensed amount of time. These guys live in different parts of the U.S., so that was a bit challenging. Chuck Daly, who’s a key part of this story, passed away many years ago. Trying to tell the story and stay true to Chuck (was a challenge). That’s why getting Mike Krzyzewski and some other assistant coaches on the Dream Team was critical. But once we had that VHS tape in hand, and we had the cooperation of all the interview subjects, it came together quickly.”
Was it difficult to get access to the original footage?
“I worked with the NBA and USA Basketball to hunt down who had that tape stashed in a box in a garage. So getting that and not knowing if the tape had been damaged after all these years, getting it transferred, and seeing how well it held up. The NBA had some of that footage for a previous documentary, but this was the first time we’ve got all the tapes that were shot during that five-day training camp in La Jolla, California. It took a little work, but like anything worthwhile, it doesn’t come easy, but it certainly pays off.”
Were any members of the Dream Team reluctant to talk?
“No. They understand that there’s like this passing of the torch. There was a time when the Dream Team guys looked up to players like Dr. J, George Gervin, Bill Russell, and Wilt Chamberlain. The guys that came before. So they respect when young guys come in, play hard, and take it to them. These are competitors. I think there was mutual respect.”
What’s the one takeaway you hope viewers get from your film?
“I just hope people take a trip down memory lane and get entertained. (I) want people to sit back and (have it) put a smile on their faces. Beyond that, it’s just kind of the whole lesson of any given day, no matter what the odds are, if you come prepared and believe in yourself, anything could happen on that one day.”
We Beat the Dream Team will debut on HBO and stream on Max on Feb. 17