Just looking at our recent Olympic/FIBA record, it's been fairly middling for the US.
Sadly, the draw of the Olympics isn't what it used to be for players, who often opt out of playing offseason games that might get them injured. Add in the chemistry of the international teams who have been together for years, plus the fact that some of the best NBA players won't be playing for the US (Jokic, Luka, Giannis)
Yes the team is stacked, and yes they'll be well coached. They might torch through the field.
But in no way is taking multiple games at -850 a guaranteed bet
Canada's backcourt is going to be SGA and Jamal Murray. The best two players in the world, currently, are Slovenian and Serbian. Wtf are you talking about lol
I’m not sure where this line is, but do you mean to win the tourney or a game? Both are very risky bets, but I would never put thst money on a single game. Anyone who’s watched basketball before know that a team can have an off night similar to baseball.
Wemby led an absolutely depleted Spurs team to a win over the defending champ Nuggets at the end of the season in a game where the Nuggets were competing for playoff seeding and going 100%. Paris will be hostile environment, Parisians will be harassing Team USA relentlessly. Anything can happen. Personally, I wouldn't put big money on this.
Who needs corruption, it’s not like USA players are miles ahead of everyone else. There will be competitive teams in the Olympics besides the US and the US team will have to work.
There is always a risk. I had a friend who took these "sure" bets and maxed out his credit card on them, he made some money, until there was a major upset......
These odds are really not that good, considering it's a one game elimination system.
Is it impossible to imagine the loss if, for example, Jokic decides to play, and he feels particularly inspired that day?
Just to add, it's not like he would be playing alone. His helpers would include Bogdan Bogdanovic and Vasa Micic from Charlotte and some of the finest Euroleague players.
The similar goes for France, Canada, or maybe even Germany, the world champions.
Look at last year's World Cup USA squad and see if the names were really that bad?
The Ant, Ingram, Haliburton, Jackson Jr., Banchero, Austin Reaves...
Because it’s not a 7 game series. The Celtics lost to the Heat in the first round this year cause they got super hot from 3, that can happen any game. Chemistry also matters and other countries have way more
just putting this out there, the foreign players are getting better right? so every year it gets a little harder for team USA to win? hope it’s not that year it gets real competitive
Yes, the international scene has slowly produced some of the current best in the world - Jokic, SGA, Luka, Giannis, Sengun, Jamal, Wemby, Sabonis, Gobert, and Embiid (though he has dual citizenship)
This is what they call picking up pennies in front of the bulldozer. I’d take your 10k and buy index funds. You could have a 25% return! And if you don’t you’re not broke. Single game elimination formats creates an environment where anything could happen( think college ball) Some French player you’ve never heard of shoots 8/9 from 3 and you’re going home.
Canada is the only threat, but they’re just a poor man’s Team USA. France could cause a few problems defensively I guess. But this will most likely be a cake walk for the US, who only has one loss in Olympic play since the Athens dissappointment.
They're more likely than not to win, but it's not like every game is going to be a non-competitive blowout. More and more of the NBA is foreign players and the talent of the foreign teams has been catching up to the USA team for a long time. Don't be surprised if the finals is another close game like last Olympics.
Sucker bet, they might win but the Olympics rules are different and like 40% of the league is foreign. Other teams are full of pros who know the rules better too.
Luka and Giannis are in the same qualifier, so even if they decided to push for an Olympic berth only one could make it. Thats if either make it at all
Actually there isn’t. It is actually what would be called a lock. There is no team with depth and power and shooting ability. Some teams might have one or 2 great players. As you’re seeing in the finals they don’t beat great teams. We have a great team in America. And we have the best coaching staff amongst the other teams. Best defensive mind in Erik spoelstra. Best adjustment guy if needed in Steve Kerr.
Dominica came so close to getting a draw against Jamaica in the World Cup Qualifiers. Dominica's 3-way moneyline at the start of the match was @41.00.
I have seen 81.00 odd underdogs in the lower Australian soccer leagues win a match outright.
Sports can be wild, and I pity the people who can convince themselves and/or other people that any game is a "110% certain lock".
USA team (in general) are expats from the sub-continent who know what they’re doing. It’s not like a bunch of good ol’ farm boys raised on corn playing a game they only heard of yesterday.
And Pakistan haven’t been a decent team for a while now. They’ve always had a few decent players and a proud history but the modern XI is pretty uninspiring. I can’t remember the last time they were even “ok”. India tore through them overnight, their warm up to the world cup was England cleaning them out, NZ smoking them and even Ireland stole a game off them. And before that they were shit at the Asian cup.
It was a boil-over waiting to happen tbh.
And the balls are slightly larger, heavier and much harder than a baseball. It’s also encouraged to rough and shine them to affect their flight (within the rules).
I mean cool bro. Good ole farm boys or not I know they throw a ball at sticks and it looks easy af lol. I’m not trying to get downvoted just saying whet a pretty average American sees
I mean, any sport sounds easy af when you reduce it to its simplest form. Putting a ball into a hoop. Hitting a bouncy ball over a net. Kicking a ball into a goal. Ez pz.
The point of my comment was just to note that USA def Pakistan isnt the huge upset some are making it out to be - equally because USA is made up of players who grew up loving and playing the game, so their competence shouldn’t surprise and equally because Pakistan, perhaps unintuitively, suck atm.
I wasn’t trying to start a cricket v baseball chat but I’m happy to talk sport in a way that doesn’t turn into a dick (or should that be bat?) measuring contest.
Cricket doesn’t really have a concept of a strikezone and hitting the batsman with a legal delivery isn’t penalised in anyway so it’s not quite as simple as imagining the stumps as a strikezone. There’s 10 ways to get out and only 1 involve actually hitting the stumps. And yeah, as you eluded to, it’s easier to hit a ball in cricket - thats why the total runs scored in a match is 400 and not 8.
The ball also isnt delivered slowly, unless your name is Paul Skenes, a cricket fast bowler is only a few mph slower than a baseball pitcher, they hit 94-96mph, so it is slower but not by a lot. Its just not used _that_ frequently to bowl straight gas because its not that hard to bat against if its predictable. 95% of deliveries will be slightly slower to increase the deviation of the ball either through the air or off the pitch.
I get that the average Seppo doesnt see 99% of that but if you’re into baseball, a T20 cricket game you’d really enjoy if you got into it. Most popular game not named soccer in the world for a reason. Just wait until there’s a test match in USA - its cricket but a match goes for 5 straight days. I’m in heaven.
US has a lot of big personalities. They’re going to have tight rotations and everyone’s going to want to get shots up. There’s a scenario where guys start forcing shots because they’re used to 10+ a game
Is embiid played for France that would've been wild seeing gobert embiid and wemby on the court together. That spacing wouldn't work unless gobert just camped in the corner and let embiid have the post/mid while wemby took the top of the key/wing.
Defensively you wouldn't touch the post and would need 5 Curry's to win.
Its 1 game elimination. Anything can happen. Bad reffing. Opponent goes hot from 3. USA goes ice cold. If it was a 7 game series, USA would be a safe bet
There are plenty of European players that are stars in the NBA. They grew up in the club system playing Olympic style basketball which is closer to the college game. The USA stars played AAU bs, barely played college ball, and have been playing with different rules that are more friendly to individual basketball in the NBA. While it will be an upset if USA doesn’t win, it’s not a given. If you got 10racks to throw around, by all means, have fun… But as an American, I don’t need to get a bet down to root for my country.
Team usa has lost multiple Olympics already. It's not a lock and 2.5k profit off a 10k bet is not worth the risk.
Look at the top stars in the NBA today. A good number are not American. The rest of the world has caught up to the USA.
USA may still have the biggest amount of talent but talent isn't everything. How well the team meshes together makes a huge difference.
Alot of the foreign teams practice together more over the years than the team usa does.
Plus team USA no longer has Kobe
Since the US started sending Pros to the Olympics they’ve only received less than Gold one time with only 4 losses in total. What are you talking about
Replace Shai with Wemby. I did not know that Embiid is playing for the USA. That's awesome. I still wouldn't take this bet with France, Canada, Australia out there
Wemby is not even close to top 5 or to Shai. Ya whatever in the future obviously can be he’s an alien but it’s not even a fucking close thing in the slightest rn or comparable. Sga is an mvp candidate. Wemby is Roty undeserved. They ain’t the same
He was playing like a top 10 player at the end of the year, I think upgrading the dogshit around him is the most important part of his development right now. Chet's good, but hard disagree there.
Men’s team could get beat by Serbia, Canada (assuming they make it) and France. France has a huge size advantage (pun intended) and benefits quite a bit from the FIBA rules. Team USA will have some advantages, but the size discrepancy is going to be a big factor.
Being able to touch the ball the moment it touches the rim without it being goaltending is huge for Wemby and Gobert. Not to mention, the games are in France…
They could get beat in theory but it’s a <5% chance. USA’s entire rotation is hall of fame basketball players. Haliburton is probably the worst player on the roster and he is 3rd team All NBA. Other countries may have one superstar and two or 3 NBA players. The US has about 10 superstars and 5 all stars.
Embiid’s coming off of a torn meniscus and was on 1 leg the entire series. AD gets his lunch handed to him but Jokic every time they match up. AD and Bam are too small to play against traditional centers. Assuming Embiid’s healthy, that’s 1 true center on the roster. It may not be an issue but if you’re trying to figure out how it could go wrong for team USA that’s it.
More modern center. He thrives in a switch heavy scheme because he can move his feet really well but he’s not big or bulky enough to guard guys like Jokic or Embiid.
US is stacked but the best players in the world are playing against them, not for them.
I’m referring to Jokic, Luka, and Giannis. Those are the top 3 imo.
And none of those 3 are playing with eachother. They aren’t 1v10ing this shit. Players 2-10 all better on USA team. It’s still essentially a WAC team non Gonzaga vs standard Kentucky. Skill gap will fucking be big
I mean it wouldn’t be anyways. But people are making it sound like a bad bet. Odds wise still pretty good. Obviously not free but If I was setting the line us is bigger favorites.
That was Lebronze and Cancermello tanking that effort, they didn’t deserve to be on the team. Duncan and Iverson played their ass off thry deserved better.
This team is no more stacked than better teams of the past, and the play from foreign teams is better than it was 10-30 years ago. I'm not saying don't bet this, but you're treating it as a foregone conclusion that they'll win.
The 2004 team that got bronze had 5 Hall of Famers, and they got beat by Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, and a bunch of guys that barely sniffed the end of an NBA bench.
Team USA isn't as much of a lock as it was a decade ago. Other countries have dramatically improved and it's a single elimination tournament where any team can get hot from 3. Team USA on the women's side is much more of a lock because their competition is virtually nonexistent.
This is by far the worst Olympics since 2004 to bet on the US. The consensus top 3 players in the NBA are all foreign players (Luka, Jokic, Giannis). The best guard in the league, Shai, is Canadian. The team is both very old and very young. The leaders of team LeBron, Steph, and KD are all past their primes. Holiday is 33 years old. A lot is going to fall on players like Edwards, Booker, and Tatum. Edwards and Haliburton are very young. I don't know if that is a good recipe. The most important player is, without question, AD. FIBA rules favor big men (rebounding off the rim v. goaltending), especially those who can shoot (shorter 3 point line). This is by no means an obvious gold medal team. It lacks toughness inside (unless they are willing to sacrifice offense to put Bam in) and potentially perimeter defense if Booker and Curry play a lot of minutes together.
If it wasn’t a one game knockout round I’d agree with you. Play each of the teams 10 times and they win 9
or 10. But just takes one loss in knockout round and no gold.
I'm thinking some people don't know that. I definitely think out of all the "locks" thrown around this one is very strong. Plus it is a somewhat short return period.
For any good gambler, it isn't worth making pretty much ever. You'd be tying $X wager for $X.25 that settles August 4th.
That return is abysmal, just ARB betting for 1% per day from now until August 4th would be $X.7285.
And finding 1% arbs can be done 24/7, 7 days a week when baseball is in season.
If it were *that* probable the US wins, wouldn’t you expect much lower odds? There are plenty of talented international squads. Also, they aren’t playing an NBA style of basketball. It’s a whole different type of game. I wouldn’t risk anything you wouldn’t be comfortable blowing on a night out or something.
Ehh...sometimes it does, just not in sports. Last year there fanduel offered a bet that barbie would out gross Oppenheimer on opening weekend at like -1000, with projections just a few days prior showing it was on track to easily TRIPLE Oppenheimer. Took that and ran.
Yeah. There are still books offering Biden to be the democratic nominee at -600. Literally if he survives for 2 months the bet hits. There is no such thing as free money, but that's the next closest
Anything can happen. I bet a bunch of people bet on Pakistan to beat the USA in Cricket this last week as it was a "sure thing" since Pakistan dominates Cricket and it is its national sport.
Yeah, they are good at T20s, I’ll give you that. But dominating the sport, that’s a different question and no disrespect to them, but no person who follows cricket would say they dominate it.
What if I told you the success of the women's team isn't based on whether a professional rookie that's never played in an international tournament won't be the reason this Women would win or lose.
Hey I’m going to tell you one of my worst days gambling, I bet on phelps in the 2012 olympics at something like 1.18 it was the butterfly 200m I think butterfly was considered his strongest (maybe minus medley) and he lost to a South African dude by like 0.05 seconds.
I had a for me monster stake on it to like you say win a nice lump thinking it could never lose.
I was gambling for an income at that point and mentally it broke me, I’ve had large amounts on like 1/3 odds and win/lose it didn’t affect me but this hit different.
I fell into a pretty bad depression, I stopped gambling a while after because it made me feel sick.
Whilst it looks like easy money it’s just not worth it unless 10k is a small amount of money to you.
Lol. Are you serious?? NBA has 450 players. This season 125 of them were international. 28% of NBA players aren't American. [Look at this Top 25 list. ](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/ranking-nbas-top-25-players-this-season-big-man-debate-at-no-1-wemby-makes-list-steph-lebron-miss-top-10/). I'm not saying this is the definitive list or the most accurate as all of these are subjective, but players 1-5 on this list are not American, and 10 of the 25 players are international.
For instance Serbia, ranked 4th internationally, has 7 players currently in NBA and most likely all will be on their Olympic roster including Jokic. You don't think the team with arguably the best player in the league, a guy that has 3 NBA MVPs (only 8 other people in NBA history have that many or more), can beat a US team, especially if they are having an off night??
# **Basketball Betting Discord Chat: [https://discord.gg/sportsbook](https://discord.gg/sportsbook)**
They find a way. It’s hard to get huge egos on the same page. Not the most moral people run the Olympics, and FIFA. Bribes are always welcomed.
Any team just getting hot from 3 could be the end. There are some defensive holes, especially with the two best defenders still in the Finals.
Individual talent does not equal team chemistry
Running into Joker and Micic or a hot German/Canadian team in the knockouts
Just looking at our recent Olympic/FIBA record, it's been fairly middling for the US. Sadly, the draw of the Olympics isn't what it used to be for players, who often opt out of playing offseason games that might get them injured. Add in the chemistry of the international teams who have been together for years, plus the fact that some of the best NBA players won't be playing for the US (Jokic, Luka, Giannis) Yes the team is stacked, and yes they'll be well coached. They might torch through the field. But in no way is taking multiple games at -850 a guaranteed bet
Canada's backcourt is going to be SGA and Jamal Murray. The best two players in the world, currently, are Slovenian and Serbian. Wtf are you talking about lol
Too many stars on a team can go either way.
I’m not sure where this line is, but do you mean to win the tourney or a game? Both are very risky bets, but I would never put thst money on a single game. Anyone who’s watched basketball before know that a team can have an off night similar to baseball.
Wemby led an absolutely depleted Spurs team to a win over the defending champ Nuggets at the end of the season in a game where the Nuggets were competing for playoff seeding and going 100%. Paris will be hostile environment, Parisians will be harassing Team USA relentlessly. Anything can happen. Personally, I wouldn't put big money on this.
Corruption and betting are best friends. That’s why.
Who needs corruption, it’s not like USA players are miles ahead of everyone else. There will be competitive teams in the Olympics besides the US and the US team will have to work.
First two rules of gambling are never bet more than you can afford to lose and there are no sure things.
Australia, France, Slovenia, Greece, Spain, Germany, Serbia. All it takes is America to have a poor shooting night and a team could easily upset them.
Definitely taking the field. Any team with LeBron is a first round exit.
There is always a risk. I had a friend who took these "sure" bets and maxed out his credit card on them, he made some money, until there was a major upset......
What ended up happening with your friend?
He dead.
These odds are really not that good, considering it's a one game elimination system. Is it impossible to imagine the loss if, for example, Jokic decides to play, and he feels particularly inspired that day? Just to add, it's not like he would be playing alone. His helpers would include Bogdan Bogdanovic and Vasa Micic from Charlotte and some of the finest Euroleague players. The similar goes for France, Canada, or maybe even Germany, the world champions. Look at last year's World Cup USA squad and see if the names were really that bad? The Ant, Ingram, Haliburton, Jackson Jr., Banchero, Austin Reaves...
Because it’s not a 7 game series. The Celtics lost to the Heat in the first round this year cause they got super hot from 3, that can happen any game. Chemistry also matters and other countries have way more
Choke artists.
just putting this out there, the foreign players are getting better right? so every year it gets a little harder for team USA to win? hope it’s not that year it gets real competitive
Yes, the international scene has slowly produced some of the current best in the world - Jokic, SGA, Luka, Giannis, Sengun, Jamal, Wemby, Sabonis, Gobert, and Embiid (though he has dual citizenship)
Want free money, bet the women to win gold :D
Women’s team is so stacked, they’ll be fun to watch.
USA women are -1800 😞
I would still only bet an amount youre comfortable losing tbh but definitely a very likely outcome
Ego-> superstars .
Not a smart bet.
This is what they call picking up pennies in front of the bulldozer. I’d take your 10k and buy index funds. You could have a 25% return! And if you don’t you’re not broke. Single game elimination formats creates an environment where anything could happen( think college ball) Some French player you’ve never heard of shoots 8/9 from 3 and you’re going home.
This right here 🙌 Not to mention the taxes on winnings… that $2k will look much smaller real quick. Might as well max out your TAX FREE Roth IRA
This is the real logical answer. There’s a reason books put the odds out - when that rare upset occurs, they clean up and you’re broke.
Canada is the only threat, but they’re just a poor man’s Team USA. France could cause a few problems defensively I guess. But this will most likely be a cake walk for the US, who only has one loss in Olympic play since the Athens dissappointment.
Any team with an nba superstar is a threat. It just takes one poor shooting game and for a star to pop off and it’s over.
Eh, not really. You can say that about any basketball game I guess, but when it comes to the Olympics that statement doesn’t hold much weight
It would be crazy, but it’s not like it can’t happen.
They're more likely than not to win, but it's not like every game is going to be a non-competitive blowout. More and more of the NBA is foreign players and the talent of the foreign teams has been catching up to the USA team for a long time. Don't be surprised if the finals is another close game like last Olympics.
Sucker bet, they might win but the Olympics rules are different and like 40% of the league is foreign. Other teams are full of pros who know the rules better too.
Half of the best players in the NBA are playing for foreign countries.
Shai will maybe (jokic undecided) be the only All-NBA international player not playing for the US.
Luka? Giannis?
both are hurt, very doubtful they play
Didnt Luka say he was planning on it this week?
Luka and Giannis are in the same qualifier, so even if they decided to push for an Olympic berth only one could make it. Thats if either make it at all
This happens more often you would expect mate.
A lot of the other teams are really good. This is by no means a lock.
Actually there isn’t. It is actually what would be called a lock. There is no team with depth and power and shooting ability. Some teams might have one or 2 great players. As you’re seeing in the finals they don’t beat great teams. We have a great team in America. And we have the best coaching staff amongst the other teams. Best defensive mind in Erik spoelstra. Best adjustment guy if needed in Steve Kerr.
This man has obviously never watched or bet on a soccer game.
It’s a good thing that he’s talking about basketball here then
Yeah there’s always one of you out there. Heard the sassy basketball comment in my head before I even posted this. Lol
The USA just beat Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup. A sure thing does not exist.
Dominica came so close to getting a draw against Jamaica in the World Cup Qualifiers. Dominica's 3-way moneyline at the start of the match was @41.00. I have seen 81.00 odd underdogs in the lower Australian soccer leagues win a match outright. Sports can be wild, and I pity the people who can convince themselves and/or other people that any game is a "110% certain lock".
This proves his point. American exceptionalism. We win even in the sports we’re not good at.
Lol you beat Pakistan. Simmer down.
Obviously you’re not a golfer…
wtf is cricket man lol. Like the little balls we hit through uspide down u in 1st grade? Idk sounds like an L for anyone who loses to USA
That’s croquet. Lol 😂
Cricket? Nobody understands cricket! You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket!
USA team (in general) are expats from the sub-continent who know what they’re doing. It’s not like a bunch of good ol’ farm boys raised on corn playing a game they only heard of yesterday. And Pakistan haven’t been a decent team for a while now. They’ve always had a few decent players and a proud history but the modern XI is pretty uninspiring. I can’t remember the last time they were even “ok”. India tore through them overnight, their warm up to the world cup was England cleaning them out, NZ smoking them and even Ireland stole a game off them. And before that they were shit at the Asian cup. It was a boil-over waiting to happen tbh. And the balls are slightly larger, heavier and much harder than a baseball. It’s also encouraged to rough and shine them to affect their flight (within the rules).
I mean cool bro. Good ole farm boys or not I know they throw a ball at sticks and it looks easy af lol. I’m not trying to get downvoted just saying whet a pretty average American sees
I mean, any sport sounds easy af when you reduce it to its simplest form. Putting a ball into a hoop. Hitting a bouncy ball over a net. Kicking a ball into a goal. Ez pz.
Sure. But as a college baseball player seeing a ball bounced into some stick strikezone looks easy af. Not breaking it down to ball in hoop
Lmao I would love to see you play cricket
The point of my comment was just to note that USA def Pakistan isnt the huge upset some are making it out to be - equally because USA is made up of players who grew up loving and playing the game, so their competence shouldn’t surprise and equally because Pakistan, perhaps unintuitively, suck atm. I wasn’t trying to start a cricket v baseball chat but I’m happy to talk sport in a way that doesn’t turn into a dick (or should that be bat?) measuring contest. Cricket doesn’t really have a concept of a strikezone and hitting the batsman with a legal delivery isn’t penalised in anyway so it’s not quite as simple as imagining the stumps as a strikezone. There’s 10 ways to get out and only 1 involve actually hitting the stumps. And yeah, as you eluded to, it’s easier to hit a ball in cricket - thats why the total runs scored in a match is 400 and not 8. The ball also isnt delivered slowly, unless your name is Paul Skenes, a cricket fast bowler is only a few mph slower than a baseball pitcher, they hit 94-96mph, so it is slower but not by a lot. Its just not used _that_ frequently to bowl straight gas because its not that hard to bat against if its predictable. 95% of deliveries will be slightly slower to increase the deviation of the ball either through the air or off the pitch. I get that the average Seppo doesnt see 99% of that but if you’re into baseball, a T20 cricket game you’d really enjoy if you got into it. Most popular game not named soccer in the world for a reason. Just wait until there’s a test match in USA - its cricket but a match goes for 5 straight days. I’m in heaven.
A bunch of good individual players doesn’t always translate when they are on the same team
Welp..they’re now jinxed. The ‘ol “this bet can’t lose!” Fallacy
lol
If the other team scores more points. Which happens more often than you'd expect it to.
They've done it before
US has a lot of big personalities. They’re going to have tight rotations and everyone’s going to want to get shots up. There’s a scenario where guys start forcing shots because they’re used to 10+ a game
france has gobert and big vic, canada is deep, and all the slavs are dangerous
If forgot the guys i was rooting for aren’t American
Don't sleep on Australia
Is embiid played for France that would've been wild seeing gobert embiid and wemby on the court together. That spacing wouldn't work unless gobert just camped in the corner and let embiid have the post/mid while wemby took the top of the key/wing. Defensively you wouldn't touch the post and would need 5 Curry's to win.
Nah not this way lol
I can easily see a bunch of losses pile up for us
And who was the lock for the cricket world cup? Cause i know it wasnt the US. No such thing as a lock
If you're trying to win $2500 you can just put $300 down on Canada
Good answer. And these is not usa dream team1 or dream team2. Some european reams may upset the usa or even canada can pull it up.
Its 1 game elimination. Anything can happen. Bad reffing. Opponent goes hot from 3. USA goes ice cold. If it was a 7 game series, USA would be a safe bet
Only if the odds reflect that. If they’re -1000000000 then they’re not a good bet.
There are plenty of European players that are stars in the NBA. They grew up in the club system playing Olympic style basketball which is closer to the college game. The USA stars played AAU bs, barely played college ball, and have been playing with different rules that are more friendly to individual basketball in the NBA. While it will be an upset if USA doesn’t win, it’s not a given. If you got 10racks to throw around, by all means, have fun… But as an American, I don’t need to get a bet down to root for my country.
Team usa has lost multiple Olympics already. It's not a lock and 2.5k profit off a 10k bet is not worth the risk. Look at the top stars in the NBA today. A good number are not American. The rest of the world has caught up to the USA. USA may still have the biggest amount of talent but talent isn't everything. How well the team meshes together makes a huge difference. Alot of the foreign teams practice together more over the years than the team usa does. Plus team USA no longer has Kobe
Since the US started sending Pros to the Olympics they’ve only received less than Gold one time with only 4 losses in total. What are you talking about
Fair point. I do believe the longer time passes, the better the odds other countries have at beating usa.
I’d definitely wait until closer to tourney, books should throw out some boosts
The top 5 are European, OP has red, white and blue colored glasses on
Top 5 includes Luka, Giannis, Jokic, Shai and Embiid? Embiid is playing for the Americans while Slovenia and Greece are non threats.
Replace Shai with Wemby. I did not know that Embiid is playing for the USA. That's awesome. I still wouldn't take this bet with France, Canada, Australia out there
Wemby is not even close to top 5 or to Shai. Ya whatever in the future obviously can be he’s an alien but it’s not even a fucking close thing in the slightest rn or comparable. Sga is an mvp candidate. Wemby is Roty undeserved. They ain’t the same
You're right Shai is better but I really think Wemby is going to be Top 5, maybe Top 3 end of next year
Maybe next year, would need a big jump. But ya Sga is already come into his own. Also Chet had a better year than Wemby imo
He was playing like a top 10 player at the end of the year, I think upgrading the dogshit around him is the most important part of his development right now. Chet's good, but hard disagree there.
Other countries take sports way more seriously than us my guy.
You mean other countries sportsmen will treat Olympics basketball more seriously than a bunch of over paid professional American basketball players
Yes, why do you think the US rarely wins other countries in sports on the world level lol.
Team USA has shit the need before. Other countries take it very seriously.
Nothing is ever free money
Literally triggers me when mofos say this on this sub
Only khabib nurmagomedov was free $ since he retired undefeated
You could say this about any result in any sport. "Tiger Woods to win the Golf Tournament of 2008 was free money" etc.
Only if he went undefeated his whole career, which he did not
Literally triggers me when idiots say that on this sub
Men’s team could get beat by Serbia, Canada (assuming they make it) and France. France has a huge size advantage (pun intended) and benefits quite a bit from the FIBA rules. Team USA will have some advantages, but the size discrepancy is going to be a big factor.
Canada already qualified
Being able to touch the ball the moment it touches the rim without it being goaltending is huge for Wemby and Gobert. Not to mention, the games are in France…
They could get beat in theory but it’s a <5% chance. USA’s entire rotation is hall of fame basketball players. Haliburton is probably the worst player on the roster and he is 3rd team All NBA. Other countries may have one superstar and two or 3 NBA players. The US has about 10 superstars and 5 all stars.
1% chance? Who taught you math. https://youtu.be/6svL10xXulQ?si=53fUduKGBNNv1fYr
Would you give me +9900 on any matchup on Kutt’s social betting site then if you believe the odds are longer?
Probably not when they have to win 3 games for the gold
USA has AD and Embiid
Embiid’s coming off of a torn meniscus and was on 1 leg the entire series. AD gets his lunch handed to him but Jokic every time they match up. AD and Bam are too small to play against traditional centers. Assuming Embiid’s healthy, that’s 1 true center on the roster. It may not be an issue but if you’re trying to figure out how it could go wrong for team USA that’s it.
… is Bam Adebayo not a “traditional center”?
More modern center. He thrives in a switch heavy scheme because he can move his feet really well but he’s not big or bulky enough to guard guys like Jokic or Embiid.
Embiid gave Wemby about 70, and routinely works Gobert with minimal knee health.
I'd bet on the women's team to win before the men's.
It’s basketball, if team usa loses it’ll probably be a bad shooting night in a knockout game.
US is stacked but the best players in the world are playing against them, not for them. I’m referring to Jokic, Luka, and Giannis. Those are the top 3 imo.
And none of those 3 are playing with eachother. They aren’t 1v10ing this shit. Players 2-10 all better on USA team. It’s still essentially a WAC team non Gonzaga vs standard Kentucky. Skill gap will fucking be big
How do you not include Shai in that list? Shake your head boy!
Hes 4 imo. You would put him ahead of any of those 3?
As of right now, Giannis, based on the season that just went down.
Which would be scary if those 3 were on the same team..but they’re not.
Theyre not which is why the US is favored but you cant tell me if they have a crazy game they cant carry their team to a victory over US
Can tell you that there’s no way it’s a 1/4 chance that they can solo carry it. Their teams aren’t the threats. It’s just them basically
No one is saying its likely. OP is asking if US winning all the games is free money. No such thing when the best players don’t play for them
I mean it wouldn’t be anyways. But people are making it sound like a bad bet. Odds wise still pretty good. Obviously not free but If I was setting the line us is bigger favorites.
Free money is implying theres no chance it can lose and some idiots would bet more money than they can afford to lose. Just cautioning against that
Luka and Giannis definitely can’t given their teams are what they are.
Unlikely but it can happen. This isnt the same gap as the dream team
Serbia is the biggest threat imo, wouldn't be surprised if they took gold
You should place that bet
Steve Kerr is not great at coaching
Canada
Since nobody has been able to convince you otherrwise. Yup free money, mortgage the house and cash in granny's old bonds.
They have the best odds but they also had the best odds by a mile in 2004 and FIBA in 2019/23.
That was Lebronze and Cancermello tanking that effort, they didn’t deserve to be on the team. Duncan and Iverson played their ass off thry deserved better.
It's not free. The gap between the US and the world is closing. Maybe it will be this year maybe not, but I'm not betting on them at current odds.
I would bet $100k you weren't around for 2004.
Kobe had to join in 08 to create the redeem team
This team is no more stacked than better teams of the past, and the play from foreign teams is better than it was 10-30 years ago. I'm not saying don't bet this, but you're treating it as a foregone conclusion that they'll win. The 2004 team that got bronze had 5 Hall of Famers, and they got beat by Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, and a bunch of guys that barely sniffed the end of an NBA bench.
This team is much better than any team they’ve put out since 2012.
Team USA isn't as much of a lock as it was a decade ago. Other countries have dramatically improved and it's a single elimination tournament where any team can get hot from 3. Team USA on the women's side is much more of a lock because their competition is virtually nonexistent.
This is by far the worst Olympics since 2004 to bet on the US. The consensus top 3 players in the NBA are all foreign players (Luka, Jokic, Giannis). The best guard in the league, Shai, is Canadian. The team is both very old and very young. The leaders of team LeBron, Steph, and KD are all past their primes. Holiday is 33 years old. A lot is going to fall on players like Edwards, Booker, and Tatum. Edwards and Haliburton are very young. I don't know if that is a good recipe. The most important player is, without question, AD. FIBA rules favor big men (rebounding off the rim v. goaltending), especially those who can shoot (shorter 3 point line). This is by no means an obvious gold medal team. It lacks toughness inside (unless they are willing to sacrifice offense to put Bam in) and potentially perimeter defense if Booker and Curry play a lot of minutes together.
If it wasn’t a one game knockout round I’d agree with you. Play each of the teams 10 times and they win 9 or 10. But just takes one loss in knockout round and no gold.
You're right, a heavy favorite has never lost before. Particularly not in a single elimination format. Totally free money!
They’ve lost before…
When?
2004 is the only time since they started running pros.
I'm thinking some people don't know that. I definitely think out of all the "locks" thrown around this one is very strong. Plus it is a somewhat short return period.
Where do you see those odds? 1.25 is way higher than I expected (1.09)
Dtaftkings has OPs odds on my end
Thats interesting, 1.25 is actually a good valuebet for a few units imo Pinnacle has it around 1.09
Risk 10k to only win 2500? Not really worth it.
For any good gambler, it isn't worth making pretty much ever. You'd be tying $X wager for $X.25 that settles August 4th. That return is abysmal, just ARB betting for 1% per day from now until August 4th would be $X.7285. And finding 1% arbs can be done 24/7, 7 days a week when baseball is in season.
If the bet were who will win in a fight you or Canelo and betting 10k on Canelo nets me a profit of $50 i would enjoy my free lunch
Maybe if the fight was that night, but you’d be much better off not tying up $10k to make half a percent for something as far off as the Olympics.
Better odds for me than expected. Thanks for the confidence.
Score less points than the other team
This ^
Don't like all the "certainly" comments getting thrown around. That's how you get burned. Bet responsibly folks!!
If it were *that* probable the US wins, wouldn’t you expect much lower odds? There are plenty of talented international squads. Also, they aren’t playing an NBA style of basketball. It’s a whole different type of game. I wouldn’t risk anything you wouldn’t be comfortable blowing on a night out or something.
Absolutely free money does not exist anywhere and it most certainly does not exist in any bookies odds. Please bet responsibly
Ehh...sometimes it does, just not in sports. Last year there fanduel offered a bet that barbie would out gross Oppenheimer on opening weekend at like -1000, with projections just a few days prior showing it was on track to easily TRIPLE Oppenheimer. Took that and ran.
How much did u bet? $5?
1000 lol
Nice. And what did you do with the 100 winnings?
Yeah. There are still books offering Biden to be the democratic nominee at -600. Literally if he survives for 2 months the bet hits. There is no such thing as free money, but that's the next closest
So bet less against usa and just lose ur money? Oh ok got it..
Yes because the only options are bet massively on them or bet against them. Lol
Anything can happen. I bet a bunch of people bet on Pakistan to beat the USA in Cricket this last week as it was a "sure thing" since Pakistan dominates Cricket and it is its national sport.
Since when does Pakistan dominate cricket?!
Compared to usa?
Compared to USA, yes Pakistan is ranked way better, but they don’t dominate the sport. Also, cricket is not their national sport.
They dominate compared to the usa . Which is what the bet was about.
Well USA doesn’t really play much, and yes Pakistan were -1000 favourites.
I mean, they were ranked 4th coming into this tournament.
Yeah, they are good at T20s, I’ll give you that. But dominating the sport, that’s a different question and no disrespect to them, but no person who follows cricket would say they dominate it.
And we were ranked 16th and were +600. It wasn’t nearly as crazy of an upset as people are pretending it is
Parlay men’s/women’s gold with USA most gold medals won you can get it at -190
For some reason I feel like not choosing Caitlyn Clark to be on the team will be be the reason the women are blamed for not bringing home the gold
What if I told you the success of the women's team isn't based on whether a professional rookie that's never played in an international tournament won't be the reason this Women would win or lose.
They’re like 50-3 all time in the Olympics. There zero chance they get beat
Math checks out.
Lmfao
Hey I’m going to tell you one of my worst days gambling, I bet on phelps in the 2012 olympics at something like 1.18 it was the butterfly 200m I think butterfly was considered his strongest (maybe minus medley) and he lost to a South African dude by like 0.05 seconds. I had a for me monster stake on it to like you say win a nice lump thinking it could never lose. I was gambling for an income at that point and mentally it broke me, I’ve had large amounts on like 1/3 odds and win/lose it didn’t affect me but this hit different. I fell into a pretty bad depression, I stopped gambling a while after because it made me feel sick. Whilst it looks like easy money it’s just not worth it unless 10k is a small amount of money to you.
How much was the bet?
5 figures
Hope your luck has been better.
It’s just a hobby these days, end most months up. I ended up using the money I saved up to travel the world though
I think it's best as a hobby. Doesn't really hurt financially and way less stress! Traveling is one of the best things you can do. Where did you go?
Asia and Australia for 2 years and then some places in Europe when coming back to England
Bet on USA it's a lock.. THEY ARE NOT LOSING THIS TIME GUARANTEED
Lol. Are you serious?? NBA has 450 players. This season 125 of them were international. 28% of NBA players aren't American. [Look at this Top 25 list. ](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/ranking-nbas-top-25-players-this-season-big-man-debate-at-no-1-wemby-makes-list-steph-lebron-miss-top-10/). I'm not saying this is the definitive list or the most accurate as all of these are subjective, but players 1-5 on this list are not American, and 10 of the 25 players are international. For instance Serbia, ranked 4th internationally, has 7 players currently in NBA and most likely all will be on their Olympic roster including Jokic. You don't think the team with arguably the best player in the league, a guy that has 3 NBA MVPs (only 8 other people in NBA history have that many or more), can beat a US team, especially if they are having an off night??