The first qualifying tournament was the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in which the champion was guaranteed of a place in the Olympics.

Qualification in the FIBA Americas was first via the Central American and Caribbean championships, where the top three teams in each tournament advance to the Centrobasket, where four FiBA Americas Championship berths were up for grabs.

The East Asia subzone chose to award its berths based on the FIBA World Rankings, as no country was willing to host the championship.

European teams that participated in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup also Qualify to the final tournament.

The draw for the Olympic qualifiers took place at The House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland on 26 January 2016.

The first part determined in which of the three qualifying tournaments would each team participate, except for the host countries.

[3] The teams' FIBA World Rankings on the day of the draw are shown in brackets.