Olympic Basketball Gold Medal game betting line: United States opens -13.5 vs. France

The Americans pulled off a stunning 17-point comeback against Serbia on Thursday, punching their tickets to the gold medal game in basketball. They’ll square off against France on Saturday, a team that has become more and more stockpiled with NBA talent over the years. It’ll be a rematch of the gold medal game from August of 2021, when the Americans defeated France 87-82 behind 29 points from Kevin Durant.

Shortly after Thursday’s game between USA and Serbia, it didn’t take long for the opening betting line to drop for the gold medal matchup between the two basketball powers. According to FanDuel, the United States is currently favored by 13.5 points against France.

Team USA will have a tough test ahead against France

That opening line seems a little bit high, considering the firepower on the French squad. Their roster features five players that are currently on NBA rosters and two of them are seven footers: Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert. The other three NBA players on their roster are: Bilal Coulibaly, Evan Fournier, and Nicolas Batum.

Wembanyama had another poor shooting performance against Germany in the semifinals, but still stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocked shots. This is his first Olympics, but he is unquestionably the biggest star for France. The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft stands at a towering 7-foot-4, 210-pounds. He’s one of the best shot blockers in the NBA and the Americans will have to be aware of where he is on the floor at all times.

In five games in these Olympics, Wembanyama has averaged a double-double, stuffing the stat sheet with 13.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.2 steals, and 2.0 blocks per outing.

France’s head coach has made some interesting personnel moves in their past two games. In their wins over Canada and Germany in the knockout rounds, Rudy Gobert only played nine minutes total, scoring zero points and grabbing two rebounds. While Gobert claimed he had surgery on a finger on his left hand ahead of their quarterfinal matchup vs. Canada, his head coach immediately disputed that report and said he wasn’t in the lineup due to matchups.

Gobert is a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year. His absence in their lineup is a big one. But France has managed to march on to the gold medal game without him and some observers have said their offense has played much better without him on the floor.

Against Germany, France got double digit performances from Isaia Cordinier (16 points), Guerschon Yabusele (17 points), Mathias Lessort (10 points), and Victor Wembanyama (11 points). Against Germany in the semifinals, Cordinier buried two clutch free throws to put the French up by four with seven seconds left, punching their tickets to the gold medal game in Paris.

USA and France will square off for the gold medal on Saturday, August 10th. That one will be televised at 3:30 PM EST and there will be three different places to watch it (NBC, Peacock, and NBCOlympics.com).