Brace yourselves basketball fans—a mad fortnight of action is coming your way. With the 19th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup taking place from August 25 to September 10, there will be a feast of games between the 32 nations taking part, with matches occurring across Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.
Team USA is a heavy favourite to win the tournament as usual despite having suffered an atrocious early exit last World Cup. The real question is can any other nation upset the Americans? If so, who? And which player will rise to the occasion and win the MVP award? We break down the answers to these questions and more with the latest odds from bookmaker bet365 as we outline the best bets to make on the 2023 FIBA World Cup this week.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 24th, 8:00 P.M. (GMT)
Understandably, America sits miles ahead of the rest of the competition in bookmaker bet365’s odds, paying just 1.80 for a win at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Behind them is France, last tournament’s third place finishers, on 9.00. Something of a log jam exists from here, with Australia on 10.00, Canada on 11.00, then Spain and Serbia rounding out the realistic challengers on 13.00.
Looking at the MVP odds, USA’s Anthony Edwards is the leader at 4.00. Jalen Brunson is back on 6.50, before Brandon Ingram, Tyrese Hailburton and Mikal Bridges sit on 8.00, 9.00 and 11.00 respectively.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 24th, 8:00 P.M. (GMT)
What are the chances that America drops the ball twice in a row and loses the tournament that they’ve won five times before, including two of the last three? Not very likely. Team USA has such depth, and as the odds indicate, are well ahead of their competitors heading into the 2023 FIBA World Cup. They’ll also be motivated to make amends for the seventh place finish in 2019 and won’t have any lapses of concentration like they suffered last time. Back them for a low, but reliable pay out of 1.80.
However, those after a more lucrative bet may want to wager on Luka Doncic from Slovenia winning the tournament MVP award. The NBA star was dominant for the Mavericks this year and is arguably the best basketball player on the planet right now. With odds of 17.00 to win the MVP award, this feels like a wager that is too lucrative to pass up. As we’ve seen in past tournaments, it doesn’t matter if a player is on the winning side or not, they can still claim the MVP award.
