Setting The Pick – All-Star Weekend betting primer­

NBA All-Star Weekend is intended to be an entertainment spectacle.

Let’s try to maintain that same tone when it comes to cherry-picking bets for the festivities.

As the NBA tries to revamp the format and inject some anticipation into the game (and now tournament), there are some merits to their changes.

These are the two components I like the most:

1. By shortening the games into a race to 40, the players won’t have three quarters to frolic around chucking logo threes one after another. It’s straight to the point with much less wiggle room for olé-style defence.
2. I love that a Rising Stars team gets a shot at the very best players in the NBA. Obviously there will be a sizeable skill gap, but I anticipate the younger players making up for it with intensity and hustle (which is precisely what’s lacking with ASW).

Unfortunately, the elephant in the room remains the Slam Dunk competition which has really lost its lustre.

To this day, I stand alongside many others who continue to blame LeBron James for declining to participate.

The event needs star power to truly inspire NBA fans.

To the credit of the three-point contest, they’ve taken over as the most watchable event on Saturday.

Without getting overly scientific with betting leans, here’s a breakdown of my All-Star Weekend bets to consider.

All-Star Game Tournament Bets

The teams have been thematically split this season compared to the East vs. West or player draft format.

Here are the rosters:

Team Shaq (OGs) – Every “unc” in the game is on this team. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the two exceptions – the only ones younger than 32.  

Team Kenny (Young Stars) – 3 of the 4 first-time All-Stars are on this roster with none older than 28 (Jalen Brunson). Their average age is 24.3.

Team Chuck (Global Stars) – Every foreign-born player can be found on this team. Donovan Mitchell was the one exception; Trae Young also doesn’t fit only because he’s replacing Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Team Shaq gets the winner of the Rising Stars game in the semis while Team Kenny and Chuck battle on the other side of the bracket.

Here are their odds at the time of writing this article:

Logically it’s makes sense that the OGs are favoured since they get the easiest path to the finals.

But if there’s any formula worth mentioning, it’s the track-record of All-Star MVP.

For nine straight seasons, the Kobe Bryant trophy has gone to the highest scoring player on the winning team.

Even though Karl-Anthony Towns led the game with 50 last year, Damian Lillard still took home the award as the top scorer on Team East.

With Steph Curry playing almost certainly his last All-Star Game in front of his hometown crowd, he’s the chalk choice at +500 to win his second-ever Kobe Bryant trophy.

The Pick: Curry MVP, +500

Rising Stars Tournament Bets

If I had one wish for the All-Star Game, I’d love to see the Rising Stars winner give Team Shaq a run for their money.

The OGs are precisely what’s wrong with the game – too many legacy players not willing to compete, more concerned about avoiding injury.

These youngsters likely come out hungry and could easily take an early lead. It’d make for some excellent drama.

The Rising Stars tournament will be the standard mix of rookies and sophomores with one team made up of the G League’s best.

Each team has seven players on their roster.

Here are the current odds:

I’m not going to pretend like I have in-depth insights on how these games will play out.

But at +310 I feel like Team T deserves more credit. Toronto Raptor, Gradey Dick, is one of the best shotmakers in this tournament and is second amongst everyone in points per game.

Brandin Podziemski and Jaime Jaquez Jr. are both underrated sophomores who came out of college with multiple years of experience.

They also have the first and second-overall picks from this year’s class.

The Pick: Team T, +310

Three-point Contest Bets​

Lillard is favoured to win and become the first ever to three-peat; his price has dropped down to +300 in a tier of his own.  

I however will choose to side with history and bet against him achieving the feat.

Here are the participants with their respective shooting numbers:

Just like the Kansas City Chiefs being unable to make history, I think beating out a field of this quality for a third straight contest is hard to expect.

Of the names listed above, why not take a flier on former Raptor, Norman Powell, who’s having the best season of his 10-year career?

He’s 11^th in three-pointers made this season but owns the best percentage amongst anyone in the Top-20.

This season isn’t anomalous for him either; he’s a career 39.9 percent shooter from deep and is coming off a campaign where he finished at 43.5.

I love the price.

The Pick: Powell three-point contest winner, +650

Slam Dunk Contest Bets

The return of the Mac… McClung.

The high-flying G League standout is being invited back for a third straight ASW to defend his crown.

Just like Lillard, he’s expected to become the first-ever three-peat winner of this event.

He’s remained a minus-money option on FanDuel since the market opened and isn’t competing against anyone with significant star power like Jaylen Brown last year.

I’m not coming here with hours of research and investigative journalism on what dunk packages they’re preparing for the tournament.

But of what I’ve watched on film, Buzelis has the least pop of the three challengers.

McClung feels certain to make the Final but that’s -1100.

Both Stephon Castle and Andre Jackson Jr. have the explosiveness and vertical to open some eyes.

I’d take both their combos to be the exact finalists at +240 and fade Buzelis.

The Pick: McClung & Castle and McClung & Jackson Jr. to reach Final (+240 each)