Team USA Favored by 16.5 Points in Gold Medal Game

Team USA, the men’s basketball team, entered the Paris Olympics as a strong favorite to win gold but faced a tough challenge against Serbia.

The U.S. team was down by 17 points against Nikola Jokic and his Serbian teammates during their semifinal game but managed to pull off a thrilling comeback to win 95-91. Now, they are once again favorites for the gold medal match on Saturday against France.

Odds and Expectations

According to ESPN BET odds, Team USA started as a -14.5 favorite for the final game and has since moved to -16.5. Historically, they’ve often been favored in Olympic gold medal games since winning bronze in 2004.

Though it was a close win against Serbia, the US is still a double digit favorite against France for the gold medal

— ESPN BET (@ESPNBET)

In past Olympics, Team USA had spreads of -21 and -20 against Spain in 2008 and 2012 respectively, -15 against Serbia in 2016, and -12.5 versus France at the delayed Tokyo Games of 2020. “We expect them to play their best because they have home-court advantage,” said Stephen Curry after scoring 36 points against Serbia.

Since 2004, Team USA has only covered the spread once out of four times in Olympic finals.

Betting Trends

At ESPN BET, Team USA holds an overwhelming majority with 74% of tickets and an even more impressive 96% of handle for gold medal futures. Other sportsbooks like FanDuel (42% bets; 88% money) and BetMGM (32.1% bets; 81.3% money) show similar trends.

France entered its semifinal game with Germany holding +1100 odds but saw those odds drop due to heavy betting activity despite having NBA stars like Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert leading them.

Experts pick their favourites for and MVP in Men’s #Basketball

Who you got? #Paris2024

— FIBA (@FIBA)

However, France’s odds fell further due to increased bets on other teams despite initially tying with the U.S. at receiving about one-fourth of total tickets early in the tournament.

Fans believe this will be an exciting final!

The Popularity Contest

Men’s basketball has been one of the biggest attractions at these Olympics for bettors. At BetMGM alone, men’s basketball accounted for most of their top-bet events during these Games.

LeBron James is aiming for his third Olympic gold at age 39 while leading Team USA with averages of over fourteen points per game along with eight assists and seven rebounds per contest. He also recorded his second career Olympic triple-double during their match-up with Serbia.