LeBron James and first-time Olympian Steph Curry look to lead Team USA to a fifth straight gold … [+]
The U.S. men’s and women’s basketball teams enter the 2024 Paris Games as heavy favorites to continue their long history of Olympic success.
The men, who are led by Team USA flagbearer LeBron James and a host of NBA All-Stars, are seeking their fifth straight gold medal and seventh in their last eight Games, a streak that began with the original 1992 Dream Team of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley.
Women’s team standout Diana Taurasi, an ageless 42, is seeking a record sixth straight gold medal — her first came in Athens in 2004. The U.S. women have won seven straight titles and nine of the 11 in which women have competed.
The men’s tournament begins July 27 and runs through Aug. 10, with the championship game being played at the Bercy Arena in Paris. James and co. will open play against Nikola Jokic and Serbia on July 28.
Diana Taurasi has won five straight gold medals for Team USA and would make Olympic history with a … [+]
The women’s tournament begins July 28 and runs through Aug. 11, when the gold medal game will be played at the Bercy Arena. Taurasi and the U.S. women tip off July 29 against Japan.
The Men’s Tournament
The Format
The 12 national teams are divided into three groups.
Group A: Australia, Canada, Greece, Spain
Group B: Brazil, France, Germany Japan
Group C: Puerto Rico, Serbia, South Sudan, USA
Teams play a round-robin against the others in their group and the first- and second-place finishers in each group advance to the quarterfinals along with the two best third-place teams for the single-elimination medal round.
Pool play will be held at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France, before the elimination round moves to Bercy Arena in Paris.
Team USA center Anthony Davis gets physical with Germany’s Mo Wagner during an Olympic tuneup in … [+]
The Competition
Team USA has won every gold medal since 2004 when Manu Ginobili led Argentina to the title, with victories over the U.S. in the semifinals and Italy in the finals. The U.S. has lost only one game since, a first-round pool play loss to France in the last Olympiad in Tokyo, but rebounded to beat France in the gold medal game.
Host France, led by Rudy Gobert and NBA rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama, are strong challengers to reach the finals again. Canada, Germany and Serbia are other likely medal contenders.
Germany with brothers Franz and Mo Wagner are the reigning World Cup champion, and Serbia and Canada also won medals at the 2023 World Cup. Jokic did not play on Serbia’s silver medal team, and the Canadians won the bronze by beating the U.S.
Team Canada players including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (left), RJ Barrett (9) and Lu Dort (0), … [+]
Guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray are among the 11 NBA players on Team Canada. Two-time NBA Giannis Antetokuonmpo leads Greece into its first appearance in the Games since 2008. Guard Rudy Fernandez is Spain’s Taurasi — the first men’s player in history to make six Olympics.
The Women’s Tournament
The Format
The 12 teams are divided into three groups.
Group A: China, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Spain
Group B: Australia, Canada, France, Nigeria
Group C: Belgium, Germany, Japan, USA
Teams play a round-robin against the others in their group and the first- and second-place finishers in each group advance to the quarterfinals along with the two best third-place teams for the single-elimination medal round.
Brittney Griner will go for her third gold medal in Paris in a return to international competition. … [+]
Pool play will be held at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France, before the elimination round moves to Bercy Arena in Paris.
The Competition
Team USA has not lost a game in the Olympics since 1992, and they won by an average of 16 points while taking the gold at the Tokyo Games. While decisive, it is that was their smallest margin since their gold medal streak began in Atlanta in 1992.
The U.S. women could surpass the men with their eighth straight gold in Paris. The men won seven straight from 1936-68, which is tied for the longest streak of any team sport in Olympic history.
The team welcomes the return of center Brittney Griner, Taurasi’s teammate on the WNBA Phoenix Mercury. Griner missed the 2022 World Cup while in a Russian prison.
Emma Meesseman (11) is the backbone of a Belgian team that is expected to be a strong medal … [+]
The U.S. will face challenges. Pool C partner and host Japan was the silver medalist in Tokyo. Reigning European League champions Belgium, who are led by five-time EuroLeague champion Emma Meesseman, gave the U.S. a scare at the 2024 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgium.
“The rest of the world is definitely improving,” Taurasi said in a media briefing “It’s not as easy as it’s looked over the years.”
Four-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson, 43, will lead the Australian team after coming out of retirement to help the Aussies to a bronze medal in the 2022 World Cup.
Media rights holders around the world provide plenty of avenues for LeBron James and others to tune … [+]
How To Watch
All the games are available through media rights holders around the world. The rights holders include:
Nine in Australia
Globo in Brazil
CBC in Canada
CCTV in People’s Republic of China
Fuji TV/NHK/Nippon TV/TBS/TV Asahi/TV Tokyo in Japan
SKY NZ in New Zealand
SuperSport in South Africa
NBC in the United States
Discovery Eurosport across Europe
France Télévisions in France
ARD/ZDF in Germany
BBC Sport in the United Kingdom
Team USA celebrates with a selfie at the medal ceremony after winning a seventh consecutive Olympic … [+]