Team USA Is Now a 16.5-Point Favorite Against France for the Gold Medal

Team USA, the men's basketball team, entered the Paris Olympics as a -550 favorite to win the gold medal, but the Americans dropped to +300 on the live money line and +5.5 on the live stream late in the third. quarter against Serbia in the semi-final on Thursday.

The US national team overcame a 17-point deficit against three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the Serbian team to win 95-91. Despite the rarity of the meeting, the Americans are back to being the favorites for Saturday's gold medal game when they face host nation France.

According to ESPN BET odds, Team USA opened as a -14.5 favorite and has moved to -16.5 for Saturday's game. Dating back to the United States' bronze medal in 2004, the team has often been the favorite in the Olympic gold medal games.

Despite a close win over Serbia, the US is still a double-digit favorite against France for the gold medal 🥇 pic.twitter.com/wRJFlvTAHL

– ESPN BET (@ESPNBET) August 8, 2024

The Americans were -21 and -20 against Spain in 2008 and 2012, respectively. They also had a -15 spread against Serbia in 2016, and -12.5 against France in the delayed 2020 Olympics, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

“We expect them to play the game of their lives because they will have the adrenaline of the home court, riding the momentum after these last two games,” said Stephen Curry, who scored 36 points. against Serbia. “We have to expect that they will play well, but we also expect that from us.”

Since 2004, Team USA has been 1-3 against the spread, including only 2016. Gamblers expect the Americans to win their fifth straight Olympic gold on Saturday.

Team USA has 74% of tickets, 96% of future gold medal handle at ESPN BET

BetMGM has the Americans at -1600 odds to win the gold medal. Meanwhile, France has a +900 chance of winning gold. On the money line, the US is at 2000, while France is at +900. The over/under for the game is 176.5 points.

At ESPN BET, the US has 74% of the tickets and 96% of the gold medal futures. According to some sportsbooks, FanDuel (42% of bets, 88% of money) and BetMGM (32.1% of bets, 81.3% of money) are currently showing similar figures.

Before moving on to the gold medal match, France entered the semifinal against Germany with +1100 odds to win the gold on ESPN BET. The French chances tied with Canada for second place overall. France is led by NBA stars Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert.

The experts pick their 🥇 favorites and MVP for the men #Basketball 🔝

Who did you find? 🤔#Paris2024

– FIBA ​​(@FIBA) August 9, 2024

However, the French fell to +1300 odds due to a large influx of bets. ESPN BET reported at the start of the tournament that Les Bleus received 24.8% of tickets, tied with the United States.

The US and France were the biggest bets of the entire Olympics. The top five most-bet men's basketball games in the Paris Games by ESPN BET and DraftKings involved Americans or French.

Overall, men's basketball has been one of the biggest generators of hundreds of sports books. BetMGM informed ESPN's Doug Greenberg that its top 20 most bet Olympic events are men's basketball.

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is fighting for his third gold. James, 39, leads Team USA in both points (14.2) and assists (8.2), with seven rebounds per game. Against Serbia, the four-time NBA MVP notched his second career Olympic triple-double.