Basketball contests at the 1996 Olympic Games was the fourteenth appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. It held from July 20 to August 4, 1996. Games took place in the Morehouse College Gymnasium and in the Georgia Dome. It was also the last Time until 2020 where 11 slots have available in the Olympics through the FIBA Continental (1 in Africa, 2 in Asia, 3 in America's, 1 in Oceania & 4 in Europe in the allocation slot for the Olympics) and 1 with a Host due to the world champions team USA have direct qualify to the Olympics as host in 1996 Olympics

Medalists

With the U.S. men's team winning the gold medal, Scottie Pippen would become the first person to win an NBA championship and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice, after having played for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals. He had previously played with the Bulls in the and later that year, for the "Dream Team" at the Barcelona Olympics.

Qualification

An NOC may enter up to one men's team with 12 players and up to one women's team with 12 players. The reigning world champions and the host country qualify automatically, as do the winners of the five continental championships, plus the runner-up and third place from the Americas, the runner-up from Asia and the second through fourth places from the Europe tournament. For the women's tournament, the extra teams consisted of the runner-up from the Americas, in addition to the second and third places from Asia and Europe.

Men

Women

Format

Tie-breaking criteria:

Men's tournament

Preliminary round

The four best teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Women's tournament

Preliminary round

The four best teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Final standings