Olympic Basketball: Can Anyone Challenge The USA for Gold?

Photo by: LAURENT LAIRYS / DPPI via AFP

Olympic Basketball gets underway this Saturday, and it is expected to be dominated by the USA in both men and women’s categories, with both heavy favourites to pick up a gold medal.

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It’s not particularly surprising given the NBA and WNBA are the two biggest basketball leagues in the world for both genders, but it will be interesting to see whether or not other nations are able to challenge the USA.

They might have a stronger team this time around, but Team USA were only able to finish fourth at the Men’s FIBA World Cup, finishing behind Germany, Serbia, and Canada. Add to that the fact Team USA were defeated at the 2004 Olympics, and it suggests it might not be a foregone conclusion that Team USA will walk away with gold.

Find out all you need to know about Olympic Basketball, including when the games start and which time they are being played, in addition to Olympic Basketball betting odds, and more.

Olympic Basketball Odds

With Lebron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, and countless other NBA stars in their roster, it would be one of the biggest shocks in sporting history if Team USA were unable to clinch gold.

But, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible! With France, who won the silver medal at the 2020 Olympics, having the likes of Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert, they will be very competitive and hard to score against.

In addition to that, Canada with Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Jamal Murray and a few other NBA players will be desperate to steal the limelight from the USA and win a rare gold medal.

As you can imagine, Team USA are overwhelming favourites, but they definitely can be beaten. Especially when you consider the strength of other nations and the fact they were down by 14 at HT against South Sudan in one of their warm-up games, they are not unstoppable and will need to live up to the pressure stacked on their shoulders.

The latest Men’s Olympic Basketball odds from bet365 can be seen below:

Women’s Olympic Basketball Odds

Elsewhere in the Women’s Olympic Basketball, USA are even heavier favorites than they’re in the men’s category, with it almost certain that they will pick up gold at the 2024 Olympics.

The Australia WNBL is a highly competitive league with a lot of talent, hence why they are second favourites in the Women’s Olympic Basketball odds for gold, while they also have WNBA star Ezi Magbegor at their disposal too.

Belgium Women have been on a phenomenal run since they lost to the USA in February, albeit there have been lots of friendlies. In that time they comfortably saw off Serbia, Japan, Canada, and China with ease.

The latest Women’s Olympic Basketball odds are shown below, and you can see if there is anyone you like the look of outside of Team USA in the Women’s Olympic Basketball:

These were the best odds via bet365 at the time of writing this article, and they may have since fluctuated in price. More odds can be found for other teams in Olympics Basketball with bet365.

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Olympic Basketball Games: Date & Times of Group Games

If you are interested in watching Team USA and weren’t aware of when they’ll be playing in the Olympic Basketball, below is a rundown of all of the games that they and every other team is playing in the group stage in France.

Saturday 27th July

Group A: Australia vs Spain (05:00 ET)
Group B: Germany vs Japan (07:30 ET)
Group B: France vs Brazil (11:15 ET)
Group A: Greece vs Canada (15:00 ET)

Sunday 28th July

Group C: South Sudan vs Puerto Rico (05:00 ET)
Group A: Spain Women vs China Women (07:30 ET)
Group C: Serbia vs USA (11:15 ET)
Group A: Serbia Women vs Puerto Rico Women (15:00 ET)

Monday 29th July

Group B: Nigeria Women vs Australia Women (05:00 ET)
Group C: Germany Women vs Belgium Women(07:30 ET)
Group B: Canada Women vs France Women (11:15 ET)
Group C: USA Women vs Japan Women (15:00 ET)

Tuesday 30th July

Group A: Spain vs Greece (05:00 ET)
Group A: Canada vs Australia (07:30 ET)
Group B: Japan vs France (11:15 ET)
Group B: Brazil vs Germany (15:00 ET)

Wednesday 31st July

Group A: Puerto Rico Women vs Spain Women (05:00 ET)
Group A: China Women vs Serbia Women (07:30 ET)
Group C: Puerto Rico vs Serbia (11:15 ET)
Group C: USA vs South Sudan (15:00 ET)

Thursday 1st August

Group C: Japan Women vs Germany Women (05:00 ET)
Group B: Australia Women vs Canada Women (07:30 ET)
Group B: France Women vs Nigeria Women (11:15 ET)
Group C: Belgium Women vs USA Women (15:00 ET)

Friday 2nd August

Group B: Japan vs Brazil (05:00 ET)
Group A: Australia vs Greece (07:30 ET)
Group A: Canada vs Spain (11:15 ET)
Group B: France vs Germany (15:00 ET)

Saturday 3rd August

Group A: China Women vs Puerto Rico Women (05:00 ET)
Group A: Serbia Women vs Spain Women (07:30 ET)
Group C: Puerto Rico vs USA (11:15 ET)
Group C: Serbia vs South Sudan (15:00 ET)

Sunday 4th August

Group C: Japan Women vs Belgium Women (05:00 ET)
Group B: Canada Women vs Nigeria Women (07:30 ET)
Group C: Germany Women vs USA Women(11:15 ET)
Group B: Australia Women vs France Women (15:00 ET)