2024 Olympics in Paris basketball schedule: games, dates, bracket

When it comes to Olympic men’s basketball it would be fair to say that Team USA is the dominant force. Indeed, the Americans have won the gold medal on seven of the eight occasions that they’ve featured since NBA players were allowed to participate. By the looks of things, however, that could be about to change.

Team USA faces a tough task

While they are certainly still the heavy favorites to take gold in Paris, the field that Team USA will face is by far the strongest collection of teams that we’ve ever seen in an international tournament. From the reigning World Cup winner Germany, led by Dennis Schröder to Canada which boasts the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray. Then, there is also the host nation France which will be counting on veteran Rudy Gobert and 2024′s No. 1 Draft pick Victor Wembanyama.

It doesn’t stop there either, with Serbia being led by current MVP Nikola Jokic there is clearly more than enough talent spread around to ensure that the Americans will have their hands full over the next few weeks. Consider for a moment that even South Sudan pushed Team USA to the limit in an exhibition game. Truth be told, Team USA didn’t look convincing in their warm-up games coming into the Olympics, something that head coach Steve Kerr has acknowledged. With that in mind, it’s not hard to see why many fans think we could be in for a surprise this time around.

As for groups and tournament structure, it’s important to know that a total of 12 teams are playing in the tournament. Those teams have been separated into three groups, with each group consisting of four teams. Understandably, the four teams in each group will play one another once each. Following the completion of the group phase, the top two teams from each group will advance along with two wildcard teams. From there, it’s a single-elimination tournament, meaning there is no margin for error or you’re heading home. You can see the groups and full schedule below: