Have gold medal odds for US men's basketball shifted?

(PRESS RELEASE) -- The United States Olympic men’s basketball team has gotten off to a rough start in exhibition games in Las Vegas.

In its first showdown against Nigeria on Saturday night, the U.S. lost outright as a 28.5-point favorite (-10000 on the moneyline). Last night, the U.S. dropped its second straight contest, this time to Australia as a 14-point favorite (-550 ML).

But has a sluggish beginning led to an odds shift to the U.S.’s price in William Hill Nevada’s gold medal futures for men’s basketball?

“We haven’t moved them from -550 yet,” said Nick Bogdanovich, Director of Trading for William Hill US. “If they keep losing, we’ll have to adjust it. I just think it’s too early to adjust now, it’s only been a couple exhibitions. They still have Kevin Durant, Dame Lillard and company. When the games mean something, it’ll probably be a different story.”

Behind the U.S. is Spain at +750, followed by France (15/1), Australia (20/1) and Argentina (20/1). Slovenia is next at 30/1 after opening at 35/1, with Italy (60/1) and Czech Republic (90/1) the only other teams with odds lower than 100/1.

Nigeria has experienced the biggest odds shift as of now, going from 200/1 to 100/1. In fact, Nigeria leads the way in both total number of tickets (38%) and total dollars wagered (44%) to capture the gold medal in men’s basketball. Then the three biggest longshots are Germany (125/1), Iran (500/1) and Japan (500/1).

The U.S. plays its third exhibition game today against Argentina at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT on NBCSN. At William Hill Nevada, the U.S. (-1600 ML) is a 17.5-point favorite over Argentina (+900 ML) with the total at 182.