The USA men’s basketball team got its exhibition schedule underway earlier this week with an 86-72 win over Canada. The game was broadcast on FS1 and drew 1.2 million viewers, which made it the most-watched basketball game ever to air on the channel. The game garnered about 250,000 more viewers than the previous most-watched basketball game on FS1 which was a 2022 Purdue-Indiana game.
John Ourand of Puck wrote in his newsletter, The Varsity, that while fans would normally expect to see anything Olympic related on an NBC network, FOX Sports cut a deal last year with the NBA which allows them to air the showcase games.
The team next heads to Abu Dhabi for a game against Australia, which will air at 12 p.m. ET on Monday July 15. They will also play Serbia in Abu Dhabi, that game will be on Wednesday July 17, also at 12 p.m. ET. Both of those games will air on FS1.
The team will then move to London and will play South Sudan and Germany in games scheduled for Saturday July 20 and Monday July 22. Both games will be played at 3 p.m. ET and will be shown on Fox.
Team USA is then scheduled to open the Group Phase at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday July 28 at 11:15 a.m. ET against Serbia. Other games are set for July 31 against South Sudan at 3 p.m. ET and against Puerto Rico on August 3 at 11:15 a.m. ET. All of those games will be aired by NBC.
Team USA features one of its most talented rosters, drawing many to compare it to the Dream Team from 1992. This year’s team features the likes of LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Steph Curry and Anthony Davis. Team USA is coached by Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
