NBA All-Star is rapidly approaching, as the one-day extravaganza will combine the usual Saturday night competitions with the game itself on Sunday, and the build to this year’s All-Star is, unsurprisingly, muted. Part of that is the lack of a full weekend where the hoops world all descends on one city for a few days, and part of it is the simple fact that the players themselves don’t seem particularly thrilled about having to play a made-for-TV special of a game in an empty arena while otherwise quarantined in an Atlanta hotel.
Despite maybe better judgement, the show is going on and as such, there is a wagering element to all of this. There’s a full card of action available for Sunday’s festivities, from the Skills, Three-Point, and Dunk contests to All-Star MVP odds and some in-game props. We’ll be looking at the offerings from BetOnline in this space and handing out best bets for everything on the board.
Skills Competition: Vucevic (+650), Randle (+800)
Chris Paul and Luka Doncic are, unsurprisingly, the heavy favorites as the two only guards in the Skills Competition, and no one would be surprised by either winning. Of those two, I’d lean Paul if for no other reason than he’s the better three-point shooter and, often, that’s what this comes down to. The other thing the Skills Competition comes down to is effort, and typically the big fellas are a bit more inclined to go all-out because a win means a little more to them. That’s why I’m going to roll with the two best shooting bigs in this year’s competition, who also happen to have the longest odds. If they can get through the passing section, both are capable of knocking down the shot at the end to win.
Three-Point Contest: Booker (+500), Tatum (+750)
Booker has won this contest before (2018), as the only other past champ is Stephen Curry (2015) who, at +190, is the strong favorite and as such I cannot bring myself to bet on him. Booker feels like really good value in the middle of the pack at +500 and I’ll take a flyer on Tatum, because I could see him getting in rhythm and hitting a bunch. Plus at +750, why not? Sadly, there is not an option as good as Joe Harris a year ago at longish odds, but we’ll ride with these two.
Dunk Contest: Cassius Stanley (+200)
Do this now before the smart money comes in on the rookie out of Duke. He had the highest vert in the 2020 Draft and his dunk reel from high school and college is sensational. Few NBA fans know of him because he wasn’t an elite prospect and he hasn’t played for the Pacers, but everyone in the Draft/college hoops world is stunned he’s got the longest odds on the board.
Most Three-Pointers Made By One Player In The All-Star Game: OVER 6.5 (-130)
Boy they really are just stealing money from you with the vig on these All-Star props at toss-ups being -120 each, but I digress. Last year, two guys hit seven or more threes (Kawhi and CP3) and I’ll bank on that happening again in the three-point happy All-Star action.
Most Assists By One Player: UNDER 10.5 (-130)
No one has topped 10 assists in the last two years under the new format where captains pick teams, and I’m going to ride with that trend to continue here.
Most Rebounds By One Player: OVER 11 (-110)
There’s a lot of really good bigs in this game so they might all divvy them up, but I think someone can at least get to 11 for a push and given this is getting better juice than the Under, I’ll take that. Not a big fan of this bet, to be honest, but I said I’d pick everything so Over.
Most Points Scored By One Player: UNDER 32.5 (-120)
It’s kind of weird taking the Over on threes made by one guy and the Under on points, but here we are. Only Giannis in 2018 has put up more than 31 in a game under the new captains format, and with no fans in attendance and no hometown All-Stars, there won’t be one guy getting fed to delight the home crowd.
All-Star Game MVP: Steph (+750), Zion (+1200), Beal (+1600), Chris Paul (+4000)
Alright, so I’m spraying the board here with one semi-favorite, a couple mid-tier guys, and a longshot, with the caveat that you should probably wait to see how rosters shake out to bet MVP odds. I’m worried about minutes for top guys this year, especially, given how many have indicated they aren’t crazy about playing and would like some rest. Still, Steph could go crazy for like 25 minutes, hit the shots to win the game, and walk away with this thing with ease.
On the other end of the spectrum, even knowing that newcomers sometimes don’t get a ton of time, I think Zion’s gonna play a bunch because he’s the young guy (i.e., Ben Simmons led last year’s game in minutes) and everyone on his team is going to look to get some lobs up to him so he might have some of the big “moments” during the game. Beal is getting his first start so I think his minutes go up and he can go crazy scoring as well, so I like his value. Finally, Chris Paul always tries really hard in All-Star games, he’s the one that made this whole thing happen as the president of the NBPA, the HBCU funds being tied to the game was his idea, and he might just hit a ton of threes like last year.
