Olympic Basketball Odds: Team USA Growing into Bigger Favorite to Win Gold Medal

The United States men's basketball team will tip off the Summer Olympics in Rio this weekend as a massive -1600 betting favorite (wager $1,600 to win $100) at the sportsbooks to win gold for the third straight time. The Americans won the top medal in 2008 and 2012 after a disappointing third-place finish in 2004.

Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks was a member of that bronze-winning squad 12 years ago in Athens that also featured LeBron James. While James will not be a part of this year's team after winning the NBA championship in June with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Anthony is back going for gold again along with Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors. Anthony and Durant are the only two returning players this time around.

Ten new members will go for their first taste of gold, including Kyrie Irving of the Cavaliers plus Klay Thompson and Draymond Green of the 2015 NBA champion Warriors. Irving's Cavs defeated Golden State in seven games for the title this year, prompting the Warriors to go out and sign Durant away from the Oklahoma City Thunder as a free agent in July.

Two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry is also sitting out the Olympics following a grueling season in Golden State that saw the team set a record for most wins during the regular season at 73-9 before falling short of a repeat.

Team's USA's top competition looks to be Spain at +1000 and France at +1400 while Serbia is the fourth choice to win gold at +2200 at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark. The Spaniards lost the gold medal game 107-100 to the Americans four years ago in London despite a strong effort from Pau Gasol, who moved from the Chicago Bulls to the San Antonio Spurs as a free agent this offseason.

Gasol joins brother Marc along with current Bull Nikola Mirotic, Ricky Rubio of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jose Calderon of the Los Angeles Lakers and former NBA player Rudy Fernandez, now with Real Madrid.

The French team won silver in 2000 and lost to Spain in the 2012 quarterfinals, and they are led by San Antonio's Tony Parker. In addition to Parker, France also has four more NBA players in Nicolas Batum of the Charlotte Hornets, Joffrey Lauvergne of the Denver Nuggets and Boris Diaw and Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz.