Who does Team USA men's basketball play next in the Olympics?

The U.S. men's basketball team is off to an excellent start in the 2024 Summer Olympics, topping Serbia in the opening match of Group C competition. South Sudan was the second opponent on the docket after Team USA narrowly avoided an upset in their recent exhibition game.

With one more game before the tournament portion of the schedule properly begins, U.S. will have a chance to sweep through Group C. Their next opponent should provide stiff competition, but the talent disparity between the rosters is too steep to ignore.

Who is their next opponent, you may ask? Well, it's Puerto Rico.

Team USA to face Puerto Rice in third men's Olympics basketball game

The Puerto Rican men's team is a great story, having pulled off a few upsets en route to qualifying. This moment between New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado and former NBA player Carlos Arroyo after Puerto Rico clinched its Olympics bid is the stuff of legend.

Puerto Rico beat Lithuania, led by NBA All-Star and fringe MVP candidate Domantas Sabonis, in the final game of the qualifying tournament to end a 20-year Olympic drought. Alvarado has led the charge as the only active NBA player on the roster.

This is a matchup that USA should handle quite thoroughly. For all the deserving praise heaped upon the Puerto Rican team, the U.S. is trotting out arguably the most talented roster in professional basketball history. We just haven't seen so much star-power collected in one place. Even the Dream Team featured a college star and a few less established players.

The U.S. and Puerto Rico will battle on Saturday, Aug. 3 before the Olympic quarter-finals start up on Aug. 6. This game has obvious stakes. The U.S. will presumably look to remain undefeated through Group play, while Puerto Rico will look to avoid going 0-3 after blowout losses to Serbia and South Sudan.

As for as matchups, the primary focus will be on who contains Alvarado defensively (perhaps Jrue Holiday gets inserted back into the starting five), while Alvarado is sure to take on the challenge of guarding Stephen Curry through his customary maze of screens. Tremont Waters, a former Boston Celtics two-way contract recipient who currently plays professionally in Puerto Rico, is another scoring threat for U.S. to keep tabs on. Davon Reed of the G League's Memphis Hustle and formerly of the Los Angeles Lakers is another name to watch.

Every four years, we get to the chance to witness history at the Olympics. After an awful FIBA World Cup performance a couple years ago, Team USA has returned with a vengeance for the summer games in Paris. It's a treat to watch so many of the best athletes in the world compete on the same stage, on the same team.

Puerto Rico will be a particularly scrappy and desperate opponent. Hopefully that results in some quality basketball.