The USA Men’s Basketball team will head to Paris as the betting favorite, looking for its fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal. Second in the betting odds? Serbia, which could have a roster that includes Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nikola Jovic and more NBA players, and the team that won the silver medal at last year’s FIBA World Cup (and did it without Jokic).
The USA and Serbia will face off in the opening game of Olympic group play (July 28).
The Paris Olympics basketball tournament draw came on Tuesday, for both the men and the women, with Carmelo Anthony and WNBA legend Penny Taylor conducting it. Eight teams have qualified for the 12-team tournament — USA, Canada, Serbia, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and South Sudan — with four more to come out of qualifying tournaments this summer. The teams are divided into three groups of four, with the USA in Group C.
GROUP A
1. Australia
2. Canada
3. Qualifier (out of Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, New Zealand, Egypt)
4. Qualifier (out of Angola, Bahamas, Finland, Lebanon, Poland, Spain)
GROUP B
1. France
2. Germany
3. Japan
4. Qualifier (out of Brazil, Cameroon, Georgia, Latvia, Montenegro, Philippines)
GROUP C
1. Serbia
2. South Sudan
3. United States
4. Qualifier (out of Bahrein, Cote d’Ivoire, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Puerto Rico)
The top two teams in each group, plus the top two third-place finishers, will advance to an eight-team knockout tournament to determine which nations will take home medals.
Team USA’s roster has yet to be finalized but a number of the NBA’s elite have expressed interest: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday and more. The Warriors’ Steve Kerr will coach the team in Paris.
The USA Women’s national team will be going after its eighth consecutive gold medal — which would be an Olympic record for any team sport — and will have to face the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medal team, Japan, in the group round. The women’s groups are (all spots in the Olympics are finalized):
GROUP A
1. Serbia
2. Spain
3. China
4. Puerto Rico
GROUP B
1. Canada
2. Nigeria
3. Australia
4. France
GROUP C
1. Germany
2. United States
3. Japan
4. Belgium
The USA women’s roster is not yet finalized, but should be stacked with names such as A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Chelsea Gray, Jewell Lloyd, Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner. The format for the women’s tournament is the same as the men’s, with the top two teams in each group plus the top two third-place finishers advancing to an eight-team elimination tournament.
