The Banana Boat Team, Banana Boat Squad or Banana Boat Crew is a hypothetical pop culture

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

superteam, consisting of

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

Dwyane Wade Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (; born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three NBA champi ...

Carmelo Anthony Carmelo Kyam Anthony (born May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been named an NBA All-Star ten times and an All-NBA Team me ...

, and

Chris Paul Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985), nicknamed "CP3" and “The Point God”, is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Paul is widely regarded as one o ...

History

The Banana Boat team concept first formed after a photo surfaced of James, Wade, Paul, and Wade's wife

Gabrielle Union Gabrielle Monique Union-Wade ( Union; born October 29, 1972) is an American actress. Her career began in the 1990s, when she made dozens of appearances on television sitcoms, prior to landing supporting roles in 1999 teen films ''She's All That' ...

on vacation in 2015. Anthony, while not featured in the picture, was on vacation with them at the time, and is considered the 'fourth member' of the Banana Boat Team. The four NBA superstars have been friends since they were teenagers, and have consistently gone on vacation together. They also played together on the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal team. In the summer of 2010, James and Wade teamed up on the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

, with whom they won two NBA titles. Chris Bosh was also a member of this team, forming what many referred to as the "Big Three". During the

2014–15 NBA season The 2014–15 NBA season was the 69th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA draft took place on June 26, 2014, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Andrew Wiggins was selected first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The re ...

, James was asked if he was close to any of his teammates on the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. He responded that he only had three people he considered close friends in the NBA, and named Anthony, Paul and Wade. In the summer of 2016, Wade posted on Snapchat that ‘The Banana Boys are reunited.' Snapchat gave the group their own "Banana Boys" Snapchat filter. That same year, the four stars were on stage during the ESPY awards to address social injustice. That same year, James expressed great interest in forming a superteam in Los Angeles with the

Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

. Chris Paul also expressed interest in forming the team. James was quoted saying "I really hope that, before our career is over, we can all play together," creating many rumors of the possibility of a superteam playing together. In the 2017 NBA offseason, James and Wade joined forces in Cleveland. Chris Paul was traded to the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

, and Carmelo Anthony was traded to the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

. On July 23, 2018, Anthony agreed to join Paul on the Rockets after signing a one-year deal at the veteran's minimum of $2.4 million. After playing ten games with the Rockets, he was traded to the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

on January 21, 2019, who waived him shortly after. Anthony did not find a team to start the 2019-20 NBA season but got picked up by the Portland Trail Blazers a few weeks into November. On August 4th, 2021, Anthony joined LeBron's Lakers. On February 20, 2022, all four stars posed for photos together as part of the NBA 75 celebration with the caption to an NBA official Instagram photo stating “From teens to legends, a brotherhood!” This marks the first time the NBA has officially acknowledged the group and their significance together. With Wade's retirement after the 2018-19 NBA season, all four players joining forces is no longer a feasible possibility.

References

{{Reflist Basketball culture LeBron James Nicknamed groups of NBA players Quartets