Twenty-three percent. That’s the implied probability that anyone other than the United States will win the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Now 23% might not sound like much but it’s actually quite a lot. Think about it this way: if they played the World Cup on loop with randomly allocated results, the U.S. would miss out on the title almost once every four times. This would just be another in a long line of upsets in sports – and sports betting strategy is all about finding the surprises.
Why are we telling you all this? Because the FIBA Basketball World Cup is just around the corner. The international basketball tournament will be held in China from August 31 to September 15. A record 32 teams will take part in the group stage, culminating in the final in Beijing on September 15. Basketball fans from all around the world can find the best FIBA World Cup odds at https://canadiansportsbetting.ca/fiba-basketball-world-cup-predictions-betting-odds/.
Running the Ruler over the FIBA Title Odds
Despite a number of high-profile withdrawals including James Harden, Damian Lillard, Anthony Davis, and the NBA’s number one draft pick Zion Williamson, Team USA will go into this year’s World Cup as the hot title favorite. The USA has been placed in a group with Turkey, Japan, and the Czech Republic. Judging by the latest bet365 betting odds, Team USA should have no trouble getting through the group and is a 3/10 favorite to win the tournament.
The clear threat to Team USA comes from Serbia, who have a number of high-profile NBA players including Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Sacramento’s Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica. The Serbians are paying a healthy 9/2 to win the FIBA World Cup.
The other FIBA title contenders worth knowing about include Spain, 18/1, Greece, 20/1, France and Australia, 40/1, and Canada, 50/1. The Greeks might be just about the most attractive betting prospect given that 2018/19 NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has announced he will suit up for his country in China.
What About the Odds Without Team USA?
Such is the dominance of Team USA at international tournaments that online bookmakers routinely release odds markets on the best of the rest. This tournament is no different and sportsbooks are accepting bets on the best-performing side at the FIBA World Cup without the USA. The betting market works like this: if Team USA gets knocked out, the prize goes to the runner-up. If Team USA doesn’t win the World Cup, the prize goes to the team that wins the final.
Looking over this betting market, all the top national teams suddenly come in at far shorter odds than before. Again, Serbia is the favorite, paying roughly 2/1 to be the best-performed team excluding Team USA. Next is Spain, 3/1, Greece, 5/1, France, Australia, and Canada, 9/1, and Lithuania, 11/1. Also coming into the picture are the likes of Argentina, 20/1, Italy, 22/1, Russia, 25/1, Turkey and Poland, 28/1, and hosts China, 33/1.
FIBA Group Betting Could Also Get Interesting
The other betting market to know about is group betting. Team USA is an almost unbackable 1/100 favorite to win Group E, but what about some of the other groups?
