Olympics betting: Odds, observations for Team USA's bracket opponents at Paris Games

If Saturday's tuneup between Team USA and South Sudan had you biting your nails, then buckle up: You're in for a crazy ride.

That final showcase ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics gave viewers a taste of what the U.S. will be up against when the men's basketball portion of the Paris Games gets underway. And while Team USA is still the heavy -400 betting favorite at FanDuel to win gold, the competition won't be rolling over for them in the group stage.

Here's a look at the betting odds for the three other teams in Group C with Team USA, and what we can expect from them.

Puerto Rico (250-1)

Twenty years ago — almost to the date — the Puerto Ricans notoriously upset Team USA during the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, becoming just the second team to defeat Team USA since NBA players were allowed to compete.

Luck hasn't swung back their way since then, however. Which would explain why they are listed as such long shots to win gold in 2024.

New Orleans Pelicans point guard Jose Alvarado is the lone NBA representative for Puerto Rico, which most recently fell to Canada 103-93 in its pre-Olympics friendlies match. They won four straight Olympic qualification games, but have dropped three straight international friendlies against teams that will compete in Paris, via SofaScore . If this team wants to upset Team USA like it did 20 years ago, it is going to have to dig deep. But as their long odds suggest, that may be too steep of a hill to climb.

Puerto Rico kicks off their Olympic basketball bid on July 27 against the same South Sudan team that pushed the U.S. to the brink in London.

South Sudan (150-1)

The South Sudanese squad may have long odds of winning gold, but their showcase against Team USA showed they have the potential to upset Steve Kerr's star-studded lineup — or at least make the group stage very, very interesting.

South Sudan is 33rd in the FIBA world rankings entering its first-ever Olympics. It has two current NBA players on its squad in Phoenix Suns center Bol Bol and Charlotte Hornets forward JT Thor, and only Brisbane Bullets forward Deng Adel has Olympic experience after competing for Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

All that being said, South Sudan led the United States by 14 points at halftime of Saturday's warmup game. And it took a 16-0 third-quarter run, plus a last-minute lob shot by LeBron James for Team USA to win 101-100.

Yes, 150-1 odds are steep. But if you're looking for a Cinderella, South Sudan looks like the team to back.

Serbia (15-1)

Sure, there are a few other men's basketball teams with more Olympic experience on them. But none of those teams have three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic on their rosters.

Jokic and Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic took home silver medals at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio after falling to the U.S. in the final. Team USA steamrolled them 105-79 in Abu Dhabi last week, so we can expect them to be extra hungry for revenge in Paris.

These teams will play each other first when the Olympics group stage starts, and FanDuel lists the U.S. as -2200 favorites on the money line to win that game outright. If you're thinking about backing Serbia with your Summer Olympics bets, you may want to use this opening game to gauge whether to wager on them going forward.

The Summer Olympics basketball schedule kicks off on Saturday, July 27.