A NOC may enter up to one men's team with 12 players and up to one women's team with 12 players. Automatic qualifications were granted to the host country for both events plus the gold and silver medal winners from the previous Olympic Games in the men's tournament, and the champion at the 1983 FIBA World Championship in the women's tournament. Additional spots for the men's tournament were decided via the continental championships held by FIBA, while additional spots for the women's competition were assigned to the top six teams in a tournament held in Havana, Cuba.
Two groups of six teams are formed, where the top four from each group advance to the knockout stage.
Fifth and sixth places from each group form an additional bracket to decide 9th–12th places in the final ranking.
In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1.
The four teams eliminated from the quarterfinals form an additional bracket to decide 5th–8th places in the final ranking.
The winning teams from the quarterfinals meet in the semifinals.
The winning teams from the semifinals contest the gold medal. The losing teams contest the bronze.
Women's tournament:
One round-robin group is formed containing all six teams, where the top two compete for the gold medal, while the third and fourth places compete for the bronze medal in an additional match.
The remaining two teams finish with their group rank in the final standings.
Tie-breaking criteria:
Head to head results
Goal average (not the goal difference) between the tied teams
Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group
The top four places in each of the preliminary round groups advanced to the eight team, single-elimination knockout stage, where Group A teams would meet Group B teams. Both hosts United States and reigning Olympic Champions Yugoslavia advanced undefeated to the knockout phase. China, Egypt, Brazil, and France placed fifth and sixth in their respective groups and competed in the classification round.
The first two places in the preliminary group compete for the gold medal, while the third and fourth places compete for the bronze. The remaining teams' group ranking determines their positions in the final standings. With the withdrawal of the Soviet Union's women's team, a new Olympic champion was to be crowned in Los Angeles. The host nation's team went through the first round undefeated and won their first gold medal against South Korea, one of the teams invited to replace the Soviet Union and Hungary. China, the other Asian representative, earned a bronze medal by defeating Canada. Yugoslavia's team couldn't repeat their bronze medal performance from the previous tournament and finished at the bottom of the rankings.
