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Gregory Shamus/Getty Images (left); Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images (right)
This year's Olympic basketball lineup is shaping up to be an all-star showdown. We've scoured all of the streaming options out there to compile the best info on where to watch Olympic basketball, including free streaming options for select games.
Olympic basketball is historically dominated by the United States. The women's team — helmed once again by Diana Taurasi, A'ja Wilson, and Breanna Stewart — has won nine total gold medals, including seven in a row since 1996. The men's team — this year led by LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry — has 10 gold medals under its belt. At the Tokyo Olympics, Japan won silver, and France won bronze in the women's competition. On the men's side, France won silver, and Australia took home bronze.
In the men's portion of the competition, USA beat Serbia 110-84 and South Sudan 103-86. The USA women's team found similar success against Japan, winning 102-76. Next up, the USA men's team will play Puerto Rico, and the women's team will play Belgium and Germany. Preliminary round play will continue until August 3 for men and August 4 for women.
No matter who you're rooting for or where you are in the world, we've put together everything you need to know about watching this year's Olympic basketball games. And don't forget to bookmark our official Olympic streaming guide for info on watching the entire competion.
All Olympic basketball games will be available to live stream on Peacock. Subscriptions start at $7.99 a month, and you can also find the rest of the Olympics here. You can also purchase a yearlong subscription for $79.99 a month, which offers some annual savings.
NBC and USA will also carry select basketball coverage at the Olympics. If you don't have cable, you can watch these options through TV live streaming packages, including Sling TV and Fubo.
Sling TV is the cheaper of the two options, with over 40 channels for $40 a month. The streamer carries USA (in all regions) and NBC (in select regions), as well as Bravo, FS1, FX, and other channels. Fubo is a bit more expensive, with monthly subscriptions going for $79.99, but the streaming service offers widespread NBC and USA coverage, as well as over 180 other channels. New customers can try Fubo free for one week.
Basketball coverage and the rest of the Olympics will be available on Eurosport in the UK. Subscriptions start at £3.99 a month through Discovery+. Select Olympic coverage will also be available to live stream for free through BBC iPlayer, but basketball doesn't appear to be part of the lineup in the coming days.
Tons of Olympic coverage will be available to live stream through 9Now in Australia, a free option that only requires account creation to use. Select basketball games, like Sunday's USA vs. Serbia match-up, will be included in this coverage. To watch absolutely every part of the Olympics and every single basketball game in Australia, fans can subscribe to Stan Sport for $27 a month ($12 for Stan's base subscription and $15 for the necessary Sport Add-on).
France.TV is the French home of the Olympics. This is a free streaming option that simply requires viewers to create a login to use. Select basketball games should be available to stream here.
Basketball fans who will be away from the aforementioned countries during any notable games can still access the free streaming options via VPN. VPNs, short for virtual private networks, are handy tools to temporarily alter your electronics' virtual locations so that you can keep up with your usual websites from anywhere. They're especially popular picks for people looking to use their usual apps while traveling and those hoping to improve their internet privacy.
Our go-to VPN rec is ExpressVPN since it's an easy-to-use option with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can check out our ExpressVPN review for additional details, and see below for highlights.
While the main basketball draw at the Olympics is the traditional, long-standing 5 v. 5 competition, the Olympics introduced 3x3 basketball in Tokyo and the event returned for a second outing this year. Each competition sees three players from each country compete in a half-court game. Rather than the traditional four 10-minute quarters, each game is decided by the first team to get to 21 points. If, after 10 minutes, neither team is at 21, the team with the most points is named the winner.
The game has a few other specific rules that are different from traditional basketball, including the fact that all field goals are worth one or two points (and there are now three-point shots). 3x3 viewing options are a little harder to come by, but some of the major outlets we've highlighted — including Peacock — carry some coverage.
Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.
