2024 Olympic men's basketball - 12-team Power Rankings ahead of the Games - ESPN

We're one week away from the start of men's basketball action at the 2024 Summer Olympics, which features what looks like the deepest field of competitors ever in Olympic competition.

With a dream roster headlined by NBA MVPs Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and LeBron James, the USA is a heavy favorite (-500, according to ESPN BET) to win a fifth consecutive gold medal. However, the USA no longer has a monopoly on MVPs, with Serbia's Nikola Jokic (three) and Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo (two) both having won multiple times and in the Olympics field.

Meanwhile, Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished second behind Jokic in last season's voting, while no player on the American roster finished higher than sixth (Jayson Tatum). Yet none of those teams walked away with last year's FIBA Basketball World Cup title. With Antetokounmpo and Jokic sitting out and the USA bringing a roster that featured just two Olympians (Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton), it was Germany that claimed its first world championship.

All of that makes it challenging to rank the 12 teams participating in the Olympics. As many as five teams besides the USA could make a compelling case to win a medal. With that in mind, let's go through my pre-Olympics Power Rankings and compare them to the current odds at ESPN BET.

FIBA ranking: 1
ESPN BET odds: minus-500

Typically, American struggles in international play have been presaged by close calls or losses in exhibition games. So far, so good for the USA. After sleepwalking through much of the fourth quarter of a six-point win over Australia in Abu Dhabi, the U.S. responded by blowing out a Serbia squad that included Jokic, albeit not starting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic. Add in a comfortable win