Last night and early this morning Vietnam time, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) conducted a draw to divide the 5×5 men’s and women’s basketball competitions at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
According to the draw results, the reigning men’s basketball champion, the US team, will face Serbia (also in Group C) in the first match, likely opening up an epic battle between the US team’s NBA stars. with champion and Finals MVP – Nikola Jokic.
Of the two remaining names in Group C, one team has been identified as South Sudan. This is the top team in Africa at the FIBA World Cup 2023 and won direct tickets to the Olympics.
The final spot in the group will be one of the teams including Italy, Bahrain, Ivory Coast, Lithuania, Mexico or Puerto Rico. These teams will compete in the Olympic qualifiers taking place in early July.
Talking more about the Olympic qualifiers, there will be four tournaments held in four locations including Latvia, Greece, Spain and Puerto Rico. Each location will have many teams competing against each other to get exactly one spot at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The full draw results of the 2024 Olympic men’s 5×5 basketball are as follows:
– Group A: Australia, Canada and 2 Olympic qualifying spots
– Group B: France (host), Germany, Japan and 1 Olympic qualifying spot
– Group C: Serbia, South Sudan, USA and 1 Olympic qualifying spot
Meanwhile, in the women’s event, the US team, as the defending champion, is also in Group C with teams including Germany, Japan and Belgium. The detailed results of the 2024 Olympic 5×5 women’s basketball division are as follows:
– Group A: Serbia, Spain, China, Puerto Rico
– Group B: Canada, Nigeria, Australia, France
– Group C: Germany, USA, Japan, Belgium
According to experts, the US women’s basketball team is very open to successfully defending the championship. They will enter the 2024 Paris Olympics as the owners of 7 consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Meanwhile, the men’s team is also the defending champion with 4 gold medals in the last 4 Olympics. However, the US team’s ability to defend its throne in the men’s competition is expected to be more difficult. The big challenge came in the group stage when the US faced Serbia, one of Europe’s strongest countries in basketball.
In the qualifying round, Lithuania is the team with the highest chance of winning a ticket to the Olympics. If they set foot in Paris, Lithuania will become another difficult challenge for coach Steve Kerr’s army.
Looking at the remaining groups, Canada is the most notable name in Group A with a young, strong and enthusiastic squad. The team led by All-NBA defender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just won the FIBA World Cup 2023 bronze medal by defeating the US team.
The special thing in Group A is that in the Olympic qualifiers there will be competition from the three top European teams, which are also names with huge NBA stars such as Greece (Giannis Antetokounmpo), Slovenia (Luka Doncic). and Spain.
In Group B, the French team with the participation of young talent Victor Wembanyama will aim to change the medal color from silver to gold right at home.
They will be in the same group as the reigning FIBA World Cup 2023 champion, Germany, whose team will have at least half of the squad made up of NBA players led by Dennis Schroder.
Japan is also a name that cannot be underestimated with its strength coming from solidarity. Two NBA players, Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe, will almost certainly be recruited to attend the Olympics.
Basketball at the 2024 Paris Olympics will take place from July 27 and end on July 10. The entire group stage was held at Pierre-Mauroy Stadium, Lille city.
Then a series of knockout matches, including semi-finals, finals and medal ceremony will be held at Bercy Arena, Paris, France.
