The NBA All-Star weekend does their skills competitions the right way. They keep them fairly consistent year to year and bring in guys who actually want to compete rather than forcing players to perform one or two skills. This keeps the competitions entertaining and competitive, and allows you to compare results from year to year.
This year the All-Star Festivities will begin on Friday night with the Celebrity Game and Rising Stars Tournament (broadcast in Canada on Sportsnet). The Skills Competitions will take place Saturday night (starting at 7pm on Sportsnet) with the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest taking center stage. The NBA All-Star Game tournament will then take place Sunday night starting at 8:20pm EST (TSN).
I will give my pick for the winner of each skills competition event below using the odds found at SportsInteraction.com (odds from February 14th).
Skills Challenge
The skills challenge will feature 4 teams of 2 that will compete in challenges that generally include Team Shooting, Team Passing and Team Relay.
- Spurs: Chris Paul and Victor Wemanyama
- Cavs: Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley
- Warriors: Draymond Green and Moses Moody
- Rooks: Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr
I think anyone can win this event, so I’m looking at Team Rooks to take this down as underdogs.
Play: Team Rooks +375
3-Point Contest
As you can see from the odds this competition is up for grabs this year. Damian Lillard has won the past two years, so he’s the favorite as expected.
I like Damian Lillard at odds of +340. He has the competition figured out and I expect him to be focused on the threepeat.
Play: Damian Lillard +340
Slam Dunk Contest
It’s hard to bet against Mac McClung in the slam dunk contest. He’s also looking for a threepeat and he’s shown in the past two years that judges like his dunks. I wouldn’t be surprised if judges expect a little more from him this year, so I don’t love his odds of -200, but I know he takes the competition seriously so if I had to bet on this event I’d still take McClung.
Play: Mac McClung -200
You can find all of these NBA All-Star weekend odds and many others at SportsInteraction.com by selecting ‘Basketball’ from the Sports menu, selecting ‘Events’ and ‘Futures’ and scrolling down the page.
Tagged With : NBA All-Star Betting • NBA All-Star Game • NBA betting
