NBA All-Star Weekend will be held in Indianapolis for the first time since 1985, when the Pacers tied for the worst record with the Warriors at 22-60.
There will be even more to celebrate this time around, considering Indiana’s young and rising team ranks sixth in the Eastern Conference and leads the league in points scored with 123.7 points per game.
The NBA’s All-Star Festival is perhaps the best in all of professional sports. That’s because the NBA League has always been creative in developing new competitions to keep fans engaged.
These competitions naturally attract the attention of the betting public, with some sportsbooks vying to be at the front of the line to offer odds on the event.
FanDuel and BetMGM currently offer the odds available, but other companies may join the fray as the market settles.
You can find odds for the Panini Rising Stars, Kia Skills Challenge, Starry 3-Point Contest, and even the Stephen (Curry) vs. Sabrina (Ionescu) 3-Point Challenge.
One of the early opening numbers for the dunk contest had McClung as the favorite to win at +150, but that number ballooned to -225.
Panini Rising Stars Game 1
(Friday 9pm ET, TNT)
These are four teams led by four basketball legends: Pau Gasol (Team Pau), Tamika Catchings (Team Tamika), Jalen Rose (Team Yalen), and Detlef Schrempf (Team Detlef). , a seven-player tournament-style competition.
Three of the four teams feature the NBA’s best rookie-sophomore combination, while the fourth team will feature only G League players.
Each game has an Elam-style ending, with the first two being played for 40 points and the third for 25 points.
Given the unique format, I’m focusing on perimeter shooting, and Jaylen Williams might be the best shooter in the tournament.
Williams is shooting 45.3% from the perimeter and will play alongside Thunder teammate Chet Holmgren (39.3%).
Team Jalen is the underdog with 2.5 points over Team Tamika, likely due to the inclusion of Spurs’ Victor Wembaneyama in the latter.
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But Team Jalen also has Wenbanyama’s San Antonio teammate, Jeremy Sochan. He has played against Wenbanyama in practice, so he may be used to trying to slow down the Frenchman.
As a result, I’m going to score points here with Team Jalen, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they win outright.
choose: Team Jalen +2.5 (-110, FanDuel)
