The 2024 Olympics in Paris are mere months away, and while American basketball fans won’t be focusing much thought on the Paris Games until we get through March Madness, the NBA playoffs, and the start of the WNBA season, sooner than later we will be locked in on another quest for gold from the American men and women.
While we won’t know the official Olympic rosters for some time, we can now start thinking about the opponents for USA Basketball’s men’s and women’s teams, as FIBA held its group draw for the Olympics on Tuesday.
The American men will get quite the test for group supremacy from fourth-ranked Serbia, who finished as runners-up at the World Cup last year without Nikola Jokic, who figures to play in the Olympics. The rest of the group will be (No. 33 in the world) South Sudan and (No. 16) Puerto Rico.
The Olympic matchups are in for
#USABMNT at #Paris2024
Winner of OQT Puerto Rico pic.twitter.com/5wjxHAWyVs— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) March 19, 2024
On the women’s side, they will face Japan, Belgium, and Germany in the group stage, with Belgium coming off of a EuroBasket title last year and ranked 6th in the world, while Japan is ranked 9th and Germany is 19th.
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— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) March 19, 2024
As is always the case, USA Basketball will be the favorites for double gold, but they’ll face stiff competition and on the men’s side have something to prove off of another disappointing World Cup performance.
Source: https://uproxx.com/dimemag/usa-basketball-group-stage-draw-opponents-2024-olympics-mens-womens/
