The Summer Olympics are approaching, and right now is the finest time to bet on international basketball. Though the FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket have some fireworks with well-known NBA players, seldom do more stars appear than when there is a chance to win a gold medal. Team USA has brought a strong squad as usual, so, despite (or maybe because of) the name recognition factor, the best Olympic basketball selections and player props most usually aren’t overs for American players. You have to play the greatest slot online games to make money.
Puerto Rican player prop pick vs South Sudan
Jose Alvarado is under protection for our best player prop pick for this game. Alvarado wasn’t on the roster for the FIBA World Cup last year, but these teams really met there. In a nail-biter Puerto Rico came out five points ahead. Along with dishing up 11 assists and 35 points, South Sudanese star Carlik Jones turned it over five times. You must follow all of them.
Though different from Jones, I doubt many of their players can hold possession of the rock. This South Sudan team is scoreable. With 15 mistakes in the showcase game against the United States, South Sudan enabled six American players to score a steal each. South Sudan turned over it 21 times in last year’s pivotal game against P.R., albeit it was in a meaningless showcase game.
The only player with such disruptive defensive ability is Jose Alvarado. P.R. had to qualify for the Paris Olympics, hence early in July we saw him performing for his national team. He averaged 2.3 steals per game across four games, three or more versus Italy and Bahrain but not so against Lithuania and Mexico.
Alvarado should dominate against this fairly youthful South Sudan squad as he is at odds of +140 at BetMGM to collect at least three steals. Out of the five guys that started for P.R. last year— Stevie Thompson, Ismael Romero, and Tremont Waters—all three went for at least three steals against South Sudan in that game.
Player Prop Pick USA vs Serbia
Against Sunday morning—that is, in the United States—the United States will be playing against Nikola Jokic and Serbia in the encounter most likely determining Group C. Team USA is a 13.5.5 point favorite throughout the market, which appears to me to be a mere taste of Homerism. This is a great position for an under for a Team USA member; the only question is which one.
Kevin Durant missed friendly play with an injury, therefore another problem needs to be addressed: the seasoned forward is not new to the Olympics. Leading performance for Team USA in Tokyo, he will radically alter player use should he be able to get back into the mix on Sunday. Durant sounds right now as if he will play.
Jayson Tatum and Devin Booker swapped starting spots during friendly play; Tatum never really performed well. Against South Sudan, he scored a high nine points. He ended out averaging only 6.2 points per game across the five-game sample. He found other ways to be helpful, but he most certainly wasn’t a high-use scorer. Also uncertain is whether Booker or Tatum would start should Durant be free.
For a top player, Tatum’s points prop—which is trading at 8.5 throughout the market—may seem surprisingly cheap to the uninformed viewer. The problem is Tatum has shown us he is at comfortable playing a low-key role; should Durant be back in the mix; he may have even less volume.
