Olympics 2024: Men's basketball favorites, contenders, more - ESPN

PARIS — The most competitive international men's basketball tournament in history is finally here.

Just being one of the 12 teams to qualify for the 2024 Olympics is a major accomplishment. There are loaded teams and world-class players who are wishing they were in France now, including the Luka Doncic-led Slovenia squad that reached the semifinals in Tokyo three years ago, but lost in a pre-Olympic qualifying tournament earlier this month.

Here's a look at what you need to know to get ready for the tournament, which tips off Saturday with Australia vs. Spain (11 a.m. local time/5 a.m. ET).

The 12 nations competing for gold will be divided into three groups of four teams for the opening round. Each team plays the other three in its group. The teams with the two best records in each group will advance to the quarterfinals. Ties are broken by head-to-head competition and then point differential.

The two best third-place squads of the three groups also advance, which is where point differential often makes the biggest difference, so winning matters, but winning big matters too (something NBA fans became familiar with during last season's inaugural in-season tournament).

The eight teams that eventually advance to the quarterfinals that start on Aug. 6 will likely create an unpredictable and talent-rich knockout round.

MORE: Everything to know about Team USA

Team USA is the betting favorite (-400 at ESPN BET). The Americans have won the past four gold medals and seven of eight since NBA players were allowed to compete in 1992. Team architect Grant Hill has brought arguably the deepest 12-man club in the program's history to Paris. However, Team USA's gold in Tokyo in 2021 was very hard-fought run and illustrated how the