2024 Olympics 3×3 Basketball Predictions & Best Bets

Everyone’s favorite pickup game at the gym – 3 on 3 basketball – is now an Olympic sport. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021 due to the pandemic) saw Latvia win the men’s gold and the United States take home gold on the women’s side.

Eight men’s and women’s teams have qualified for this year’s competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics, taking place at La Concorde with the other “urban” sports such as skateboarding. Here are your 2024 Olympics 3×3 Basketball Predictions and Best Bets.

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2024 Olympics 3×3 Basketball Predictions & Best Bets

The rules of the game are pretty much the same as the style you play at your local playground or YMCA. The first team to score 21 points (or the highest-scoring team after 10 minutes) wins, with shots from behind the three-point line counting as two and shots inside the line counting as one.

The format is pretty straightforward, as well. Each team plays the other seven teams in the tournament once to start things off in pool play. After each team has played their seven pool games, they are ranked based on win/loss record, with the top two ranked teams advancing immediately to the semifinals (do not pass GO, do not collect $200), and the bottom two teams sent home.

Then #3 faces #6, and #4 plays #5 to determine the remaining two teams to advance to the semis. Then it’s sudden death, single elimination straight to the medal games.

The gold and bronze medal games for the men’s and women’s sides will take place on Monday, August 5th.

The most familiar name to casual basketball fans competing in the tournament is former college star and NBA washout Jimmer Fredette, who is heading up the United States contingent. According to FIBA, he’s the world’s second-best 3×3 player, trailing Serbia’s Strahinja Stojacic, who was the MVP of the FIBA 3×3 World Cup last year.

The women’s side has three Canadian players at the top of the FIBA rankings, with Katherine Plouffe coming in on top (and her twin and teammate Michelle ranked third). The United States has two WNBA players on their roster: three-time WNBA All-Star Dearica Hamby and two-time All-Star Rhyne Howard. WNBA All-Star Tiffany Hayes will also be competing but for Azerbaijan.

Okay, let’s make some winning picks with all that out of the way.

Serbia (Men’s) gold medal winner (+180)

I’m going with the chalk on the men’s side and siding with the favorite, Serbia, but we’re still getting almost twice our money if they win, so it’s a worthy play, I think.

They’ve got the best 3×3 player in the world in Strahinja Stojacic, and they’ve won two straight FIBA 3×3 World Cups and six of the eight World Cups that have ever been held. They are a powerhouse in the half-court version of the sport and the choice to win gold.

Canada (WoMen’s) gold medal winner (+350)

This is not a homer pick because I’m Canadian, I swear. I’m taking the Canada women’s 3×3 team to upset the United States and leave Paris with gold. The U.S. will be without injured WNBA star Cameron Brink and only have two holdovers from their World Cup team from last year (and none from their Olympic squad in 2020).

Canada has roster continuity, the three top-ranked players in the sport, and the weird telepathic thing that identical twins share all on their side in Paris.

If you’d like even more info to help make your NBA Finals bets, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.