Team USA Reportedly Picks Olympic Men’s Basketball Roster

It’s high basketball season for sportsbooks across the country, and along with the odds you can find for all 20 of the teams in the NBA’s postseason, there are posted odds for the upcoming basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics.

The most interesting set of odds were on which players would be selected to represent Team USA, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski says 11 of the 12 positions have been filled.

Favorites Fill the Roster

The most sure bets in the field were the -100000 that you were getting for LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Jayson Tatum, and Joel Embiid.

And the five heaviest favorites have all been selected. James, Durant, and Tatum have all previously won Olympic gold medals, Curry was a gold medalist at two different World Cups, and Embiid will play his first international tournament. The Cameroonian was granted French citizenship in the hopes that he would play for them in the Olympics. But he has committed to Team USA.

After those five sure things, Anthony Davis and Devin Booker were paying -15000 to make the team, and they have also been selected. Davis won a gold medal in London in 2012, and Booker was a gold medalist at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The rest of the selected roster includes Bam Adebayo (-1800), Jrue Holiday (-500), Anthony Edwards (-250), and Tyrese Haliburton (+250).

Adebayo and Holiday were also on the team that won in Tokyo. Edwards was on the 2023 World Cup team that failed to medal, and Haliburton was on the Under-19 World Cup team that won a gold medal in Greece in 2019.

According to the betting odds, the biggest snub is Damian Lillard. He was paying -2000 to make the team, and so far he has not been named. Kawhi Leonard was also paying negative money at -150, but he hasn’t received the call, either.

Team USA still has one open spot, and with the possibilities of injuries happening during the NBA Playoffs, there may be other roster moves still to come.

Steve Kerr is the head coach, and the managing director of Team USA is Grant Hill.

A Tough Olympic Tournament Awaits

Team USA is the favorite, paying -500 to win the gold medal. But this is going to be a challenging tournament, when you consider that last year at the FIBA World Cup, the U.S. failed to medal, and many of the top stars in the NBA will be playing for opposing countries this summer in France.

Serbia was a silver medalist at the 2023 World Cup, and that was without Nikola Jokic, who is the heavy betting favorite to win his third MVP award. Serbia is the second-betting favorite to win gold in Paris, paying +750.

Canada was the bronze medalist at the World Cup, and Jokic’s NBA teammate, Jamal Murray, says that as long as he is healthy, he will play for Canada in the Olympics. And, of course, the host country, France, has the runaway NBA Rookie of the Year in Victor Wembanyama. Canada is paying +800 to win the gold medal, and France is fourth at +900.