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The 2015 NBA All-Star weekend is officially here, as the Celebrity Game gets going on Friday night (7:00 pm Eastern) and we’re away from grueling daily NBA picks until next week, Thursday. With no regular games to break down and predict, we at least have to dive into All Star game prop bets and see what’s worth betting on over the weekend. There’s a lot of craziness involved, from celebrities to the skills challenge, to the three-point shootout and dunk contest, and of course the actual All-Star game.
Before we sit back and enjoy all of the action, let’s take a look at the main prop bets and see what bets we might want to place:
Celebrity Game – First Point
Which celebrity will score the first point? There’s actually a few athletes in this game and even more loud-mouths who suggest their game is better than some would think. Will funny man Kevin Hart get the first basket (leader with 11/4 odds) or will it be a virtual unknown (yes, there are “celebrities in this we’ve probably never heard of”)? Here are the names and odds:
Kevin Hart – 11/4
Chadwick Boseman – 5/1
Abhishek Bachchan – 5/1
Anthony Anderson – 6/1
Common – 13/2
Kristen Ledlow – 7/1
Nick Cannon – 7/1
Robert Pera – 15/2
Michael Rapaport – 8/1
Win Butler – 12/1
Ansel Elgort – 12/1
Our Pick: Michael Rapaport, simply because he talks a big game and it makes almost no sense.
Rising Stars Challenge – MVP
Also going down on Friday night, the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge features some of the game’s best young talent. This one is even more out in the open, as you have to decide which rookie or second-year player is going to be named MVP of this clash of youngsters. It could range from Andrew Wiggins to Victor Oladipo or Trey Burke to Dennis Shroder. Could someone as random as Matthew Dellavedova snag the MVP title? Probably not, but he’s listed in the odds, too:
Andrew Wiggins – 57/20
Victor Oladipo – 9/2
Giannis Antetokounmpo – 7/1
Trey Burke – 12/1
Nerlens Noel – 12/1
Mason Plumlee – 14/1
Elfrid Payton – 15/1
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – 20/1
Shabazz Muhammad – 16/1
Gorgui Dieng – 20/1
Dennis Schroder – 30/1
Nikola Mirotic – 25/1
Cody Zeller – 25/1
Bojan Bogdanovic – 25/1
Rudy Gobert – 25/1
Dante Exum – 16/1
Jusuf Nurkic – 30/1
Matthew Dellavedova – 30/1
Robert Covington – 20/1
Zach LaVine – 20/1
Our Pick: Andrew Wiggins. He’s an elite athlete and is extremely versatile and we all know he’ll be playing in this game all day. These games are all about offense and dunking, anyways, and this kid can dunk all day.
Skills Challenge – Winner
The ever important Skills Challenge hits the screen on Saturday night to get the night’s three-event festivities going. It’s the least exciting of the three events but it does showcase some of the league’s best athletes using precision, speed and accuracy. Here are the players you can bet on winning:
Jeff Teague – 4/1
Kyle Lowry – 4/1
Trey Burke – 9/2
Isaiah Thomas – 9/2
Brandon Knight – 5/1
Patrick Beverley – 13/2
Jimmy Butler – 7/1
Michael Carter-Williams – 15/2
Our Pick: Isaiah Thomas. Based purely on speed and quickness, we like IT2. He’s also a great shooter and passer, so there isn’t much in this Skills Challenge that scares us when thinking of his abilities and the field.
Three-Point Shootout – Winner
The fun gets a little more intense as some truly elite chuckers hit the stage for Saturday night’s second-best event. The league’s best sharpshooters will go head to head, as we’ll get to see sick strokes from the likes of Stephen Curry, Kyle Korver and J.J. Redick. Will it be one of those guys that ultimately wins the contest or will it be someone a little more random like Kyrie Irving or Marco Belinelli?
Stephen Curry – 13/4
Kyle Korver – 15/4
Klay Thompson – 4/1
Kyrie Irving – 6/1
J.J Redick – 6/1
Wesley Matthews – 7/1
Marco Belinelli – 7/1
James Harden – 8/1
Our Pick: Kyle Korver. He’s shooting at a blistering rate across the field and he hasn’t won what has to be his coveted contest yet. It’s his time.
Slam Dunk Contest – Winner
The Sprite Slam Dunk Contest rarely lives up to expectations due to none of the NBA’s top superstars competing, but there is still some awesome leaping ability and sheer talent hitting the hardwood for this year’s battle. There’s still just four entrants, but despite them all having great athleticism and the ability to win, it’s pretty safe to say the field is wide open.
Zach LaVine (-110)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (+225)
Victor Oladipo (+300)
Mason Plumlee (+700)
Our Pick: Giannis. That last name is a damn nightmare, but we love his length and athleticism. He’s not called the Greek Freak for nothing and this field isn’t all that competitive.
All-Star Game – High Scorer and MVP
They could go hand in hand and be the same person on Sunday night, or the game’s high scorer and MVP could be two different people. That’s one fun little bet you can toy with, but you might be better off trying to nail both with different players. LeBron James and Kevin Durant naturally have to be near the top of the list, while anyone conducting NBA betting this weekend would have to strongly consider Stephen Curry and James Harden, as well. The entire roster for either the Eastern Conference or Western Conference has a shot, though, so choose wisely.
Our Picks: James Harden for High Scorer and LeBron James for MVP. Would we really have it any other way? We’re probably headed for another classic East/West clash that goes to about 300 total points and is decided in the final minute, and I think these two end up going head to head. Harden takes the points, but King James gets more dimes and boards and quite possibly the win.
