The U.S. men’s basketball team kicks off its knockout stage against Brazil on Tuesday— with Team USA looking for its fifth consecutive gold medal.
Team USA is set to take on Brazil Tuesday (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Team USA men’s basketball will face off in a quarterfinal matchup against Brazil, which came in third place in Group B after a win over Japan– on Tuesday August 6th at 3:30 PM EDT after the US went undefeated in Group C.
Brazil is hunting for its first Olympic medal in basketball since winning bronze in 1964 in Tokyo, while the United States is looking for its fifth consecutive medal, which would make Kevin Durant the leader in men’s basketball gold medals with 4, surpassing Carmelo Anthony.
Both teams are full of NBA stars, with LA Laker LeBron James and Golden State Warriors Point Guard Stephen Curry leading the U.S. squad and Bruno Caboclo and Gui Santos, who currently plays for the Warriors, leading Brazil.
Bruno Caboclo, former Toronto Raptors forward, has been a standout in Brazil’s tournament so far, leading the team to its victory against Japan with 33 points and 17 rebounds in under 30 minutes.
Team USA’s top scorers have been Minnesota Timberwolves forward Anthony Edwards and Phoenix Suns power forward Kevin Durant, each averaging about 16 points per game, with the team being led by head coach Steve Kerr
The knockout round will begin with eight teams (USA, Canada, Germany, Serbia, France, Australia, Brazil and Greece) competing in quarterfinals, with matchups being determined by a random draw, with the only two rules being the two highest ranked teams must be on opposite sides of the brackets, and a team cannot face their previous group. The winners will advance to the semifinals while the losers are eliminated from the competition. In the semifinals, the winning teams will compete for a gold medal while the losing teams will battle for bronze.
The U.S. and Brazil have faced each other 9 times in Olympic basketball and the United States has come out on top each game.
The quarterfinal match will take place on Tuesday August 6th and can be watched live on NBC or Peacock.
TEAM USA = $2,482,950,913
BRAZIL = $46,429,257
[The players below do not have listed NBA earnings]