Team USA vs France: Predicted Starting 5s and Depth Charts for August 10 | 2024 Paris Olympics Basketball Final

After two weeks of gripping international basketball, 12 teams have been whittled down to two, as hosts France, backed by an entire nation, face off against Team USA in Saturday's 2024 Paris Olympics men’s basketball final. This matchup is a rematch of the Tokyo 2020 final, where the Les Bleus fell 82-87 to the Americans.

With so much on the line and a huge clash of styles anticipated, Team USA will be chasing a historic 17th Olympic gold medal, while France, a three-time silver medalist, is aiming for its first gold.

Team USA vs France: Route to the Olympic final

After a near-faultless group stage campaign to see off Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico and two contrasting performances to thrash Brazil and outlast Serbia in the knockout stages, Team USA has reached the Olympic final in excellent condition.

Coach Steve Kerr's fluid and possession-based style, coupled with star-studded talents including LeBron James, Steph Curry and the U.S.'s all-time Olympic scorer Kevin Durant, has set benchmarks in international basketball, and they have been the standout team of this tournament.

France, on the other hand, has made it this far due to an impressive defensive resilience that ensures its matches never get away from the team, but the French are the underdogs in this contest. They needed overtime to defeat Japan in the second group game before suffering their only tournament loss against Germany. But they avenged that defeat with a victory over Germany in the semifinals.

Much like in Tokyo 2020, France has shown a knack for doing things the hard way. The team hasn’t been that expressive in this tournament, but it knows how to get through a game.

The host nation has players capable of producing magical moments, such as Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, Guerschon Yabusele and Isaia Cordinier, whose no-nonsense French warrior spirit carried it through the tournament. However, despite having an entire nation behind the team in Paris, an impenetrable USA team awaits it the final hurdle to breach for homecoming glory.

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Team USA vs France: Starting lineups and depth charts

Team USA starting lineups and depth charts

Steve Kerr has preferred to use trusted figures in this tournament, with his starting five likely to again be manned by LeBron James and Steph Curry.

Much has been made about the USA coach's decision to bench Jayson Tatum in the previous game. Whether the star forward will see significant minutes in the final remains to be seen. Given Tatum's talent, it wouldn't be surprising if Kerr considered starting him for the championship game.

Joel Embiid’s impressive performance against Serbia suggests he'll retain his spot, alongside Anthony Davis and either Jrue Holiday or Derrick White. Kerr has incredible options available from his bench, which he will be expected to use as this gold medal matchup potentially goes deep.

Guards	Forwards	Centers
Steph Curry	LeBron James	Joel Embiid
Anthony Edwards	Kevin Durant	Anthony Davis
Derrick White	Jayson Tatum	Bam Adebayo
Tyrese Haliburton
Jrue Holiday
Devin Booker

France starting lineups and depth charts

The big question for Vincent Collet is whether Rudy Gobert starts the final game or not. Gobert has seen limited playing time in recent matchups due to an apparent finger injury. Otherwise, Collet is expected to keep the same lineup of Victor Wembanyama, Isaia Cordinier, Guerschon Yabusele, Nicolas Batum and Frank Ntilikina, given the team’s strong performances in its knockout games.

Wembanyama is having a fabulous tournament and has the pace and height to trouble the USA’s aging defense. If he delivers what everyone believes him to be capable of, he could dominate on both ends of the court and carry France to the first gold medal.

Guards	Forwards	Centers
Frank Ntilikina	Nicolas Batum	Mathias Lessort
Andrew Albicy	Guerschon Yabusele	Rudy Gobert
Isaia Cordinier	Victor Wembanyama
Evan Fournier	Bilal Coulibaly
Nando De Colo
Matthew Strazel