NBA All-Star Saturday Betting Preview

While the Slam Dunk contest may have lost a bit of its luster over the years, NBA All-Star is undeniably still an exciting event for basketball fans where the NBA’s top stars from the present and past come together to compete.

This Saturday night starting at 8 p.m. ET on TNT you will get to see the classics, Three-Point Contest, Slam Dunk Contest and Skills challenge.  However, the NBA has added some new twists to the events.

Shooting Stars

One of the newer additions will be the Shooting Stars contest which the NBA describes as

“Shooting from 4 locations of increasing difficulty, teams attempt to make all 4 shots in numeric order in the fastest time.

Four numbered shooting spots will be placed on the floor to designate each shot location.

Prior to the event, each team chooses a specific order of shooting and follows that order throughout the event.

Each shot must be made (unlimited attempts) before the next player in the order begins shooting.

For Shot #4 (near half court), Player A must take the first shot – then all three players will rotate (in A,B,C order) until the shot is made, which stops the clock and gives the team their official time.”

What makes this one of the coolest additions to All-Star weekend is the teams which is made up of a current NBA star, a WNBA player and a legend.  Here are the teams:

Eastern Conference teams are:

Team 1: Tim Hardaway Jr. (New York Knicks); Tim Hardaway Sr. (Legend); Elena Delle Donne (Chicago Sky)

Team 2: Chris Bosh (Miami Heat); Dominique Wilkins (Legend); Swin Cash (Chicago Sky)

Western Conference teams are:

Team 1: Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Dell Curry (Legend); Becky Hammon (San Antonio Stars)

Team 2: Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Karl Malone (Legend); Skylar Diggins (Tulsa Shock)

Team Curry is favored in the odds at Bovada but not by much.

Here is a breakdown of the odds:

Team Curry – +190

Team Durant – +225

Tem Hardaway Jr – +240

Team Bosh – +280

Skills Challenge

The Skills Challenge essentially combines basketball with an obstacle course with an intensive focus on teamwork. It is a bit complicated to explain so here is last year’s competition:

Here are the odds and teams for the Skills Challenge:

Damian Lillard (POR) & Trey Burke (UTA)

+150

Goran Dragic (PHO) & Reggie Jackson (OKC)

+200

DeMar DeRozan (TOR) & Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL)

+325

Michael Carter-Williams (PHI) & Victor Oladipo (ORL)

+325

Three-Point Contest

The NBA has managed to put together an impressive list of three-point shooters to participate in this year’s Three-Point Contest.  The participants include Arron Afflalo, Bradley Beal, Kyrie Irving, Joe Johnson, Marco Belinelli, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard and Kevin Love.

Stephen Curry is the 7/4 favorites to win the contest, with last year’s winner, Kevin Love, behind him with 5/1 odds.

Slam Dunk Competition

Harrison Barnes, Paul George, Damian Lillard, Ben McLemore, Terrence Ross and John Wall will be jamming the basketball on Saturday night. George and and Lillard add some much needed star power to the dunk lineup.

George is the favorite to win this one with 7/4 odds.  However, the rest of the pack is not far behind.