It is clear that the men’s basketball tournament starts and ends with Team USA during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Team USA is -550 favorites to win the tournament after its first group win, with Canada coming in at +950 as the second favorites and France at 12/1 a not-so-distant third.
“We haven’t moved USA a bit since the pre-Olympic game against South Sudan,” veteran sports handicapper Johnny Avello told The Post.
“We were not concerned at all by their one-point win over South Sudan, they’ve looked dominant … Steve Kerr just has to manage these egos and lineups.”
USA has essentially given the keys to LeBron James and oddsmakers have reacted by installing him as the +120 favorite to win tournament MVP.
“LeBron James has been a phenomenon for the last couple years,” Avello told The Post. “When you look at the MVP award, LeBron is going to get assists and points, he’s the go-to guy for them … I know Kerr is the coach but LeBron has the keys.”
Plenty of bettors are backing Team USA, but there’s some concern that a France team led by Victor Wembanyama could give the Americans a run for their money.
2024 Olympics Men’s Basketball odds
| USA | Odds |
|---|---|
| USA | -550 |
| Canada | +950 |
| France | 12/1 |
| Germany | 18/1 |
| Serbia | 20/1 |
| Austrailia | 20/1 |
| Greece | 40/1 |
Team USA has garnered 85 percent of the handle (total money bet), while five percent of the money has come in on France, compared to just four percent of the total bets.
“The guy is amazing,” Avello told The Post of Wembanyama.
Sitll it’s USA’s gold medal to lose, as they are -5000 to medal.
Jayson Tatum interestingly sat on the bench for much of Saturday’s game against Serbia, while Kevin Durant looked electric off the bench.
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“Durant isn’t going to be the leading scorer in most games, we don’t think,” Avello said. “That’s spot is going to be interchangeable. When you have all the stars playing on team, they can’t be selfish.”
Given the heavy favorite status of team USA, the 85 percent of money on USA isn’t a big hazard, although Avello tells The Post that many American bettors have indulged.
“Since USA is such a big favorite, men’s and women, you can see that the USA’s [men’s and women’s] are parlayed together a lot,” he said.
Given that the USA women have won gold in eight straight Olympics and their -1800 favorite status, the two parlayed together come in at -404 parlay odds.
That doesn’t create too much of a liability but is still a popular wager as the summer Olympics power on.