Remember when Charles Barkley engaged in a race with referee Dick Bavetta as a part of the NBA All-Star Game festivities? Or when Gregg Popovich used all his defensive tactics to protect Wilt Chamberlain’s long-standing record when challenged by Paul George’s 41 points? Or, when Magic Johnson got voted into the All-Star Game despite retiring. Or more recently, when the nationally-motivated Zaza Pachulia’s home-country fans almost got the rugged big man in?
All these memorable, weird and rare moments had some betting lines available, so NBA All-Star weekend is one of the best of the year for hoops fans.
Want to bet if someone dunks jumping over Spike Lee or Mark Cuban? What about the odds of any shooter hitting all of his three-point attempts in the contest? The books are letting you have fun and enjoy the weekend so if you can earn some money on top of it, even better.
With the main action still weeks away, we take a quick look at the props that are leading into this year’s edition of the NBA All-Star Game, and 2018 has some major changes.
The new selection format
Back in the early days of the NBA, the 1964 players’ rebellion prior to the All-Star Game earned them a pension plan, improved working conditions, a friendlier schedule and the ability to have the union collectively bargain contract details with the owners.
These modern days are quite different, and the players are now closer to being partners to the league than a mere workforce. This year, the NBA decided to honor their stars and not just the fans. For the first time in All-Star Game history, we won’t get the classic East vs. West format, due to the changed selection process.
The starters have still been selected by the consensus of fans (50 percent), media (25 percent) and players (25 percent), with each conference lineup composed of two guards and three frontcourt players. The reserves will be announced on Tuesday, January 23rd, and they are selected by the NBA head coaches.
This is where the league office added a new quirk. The top vote-getter in each conference (Stephen Curry and LeBron James) will select their teams from the entire pool of players, regardless of conference. Starters are selected in the first round, and the reserves are selected in the second. James, because he accrued the most fan votes, will select first in the first ever NBA All-Star Game Draft.
Whom will he select? What about Curry?
Odds and decisions
The starters are already known, so the betting can begin. First-round selections will be chosen from the pool comprised of the following players: Kyrie Irving, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid and DeMarcus Cousins.
Obviously, Curry and James are playing different positions, have different affiliations towards other players and unique approaches to the game, so there are plenty of ways they could make their selections. Whatever method you believe is the best, it’ll likely be easily confronted by taking another perspective so let’s see what have the books prepared for us and analyze the offer.
Odds, which were released Friday, January 19, come from BetDSI.eu.
LeBron James first pick in the 2018 All-Star Draft
Kyrie Irving +175
James Harden +250
Kevin Durant +250
Joel Embiid +300
Anthony Davis +500
Giannis Antetokounmpo +550
DeMar DeRozan +800
DeMarcus Cousins +1000
Stephen Curry first pick in the 2018 All-Star Draft
Kevin Durant +150
Giannis Antetokounmpo +250
Joel Embiid +300
James Harden +400
Anthony Davis +500
Kyrie Irving +500
DeMarcus Cousins +750
DeMar DeRozan +1000
(Odds via BetDSI Sportsbook)
There’s good initial reasoning when putting two guards as the odds-on favorite to be selected first by James. Whether he wants to be competitive or looks for an exhibition, it’s likely that he’ll pick a guard. He already fills a forward spot and there are three equally attractive big men to choose from. So even if he misses on Davis or Embiid, he could get the other, or even hold on to choose Cousins, who projects to be one of the least wanted starters.
Antetokounmpo and Durant could be attractive targets, and he can respond to Curry’s selection here as well, but if he misses out on the best guard it would be much tougher to progress through later picks.
Of course, James could play a spoiler role a force unbalanced starters just for the sake of breaking some expected connections, but he’s always been respectful toward other players and the league so we expect him to play by the book.
There are three guards available, Irving, Harden and DeRozan. BetDSI oddsmakers expect him to pick his former teammate, Irving, but as much as the relationship between the two hasn’t gone cold on the surface you have to be thinking about whether James’ selection would be appropriate from his organization’s standpoint, the potential rivalry with the Boston Celtics and whether Irving will appreciate it.
Irving is the guy who publicly said that he doesn’t want to play in James’ shadow, remember? Players around the league know very well how deadly DeRozan can be, but I doubt any of them holds him in such high regard to select him as the first officer.
This leaves James with a surefire option – James ‘The Beard’ Harden. He’s fun, he’s deadly and he’s a future foe of Golden State (maybe they can share a thought). At a +250 price, Harden has good value.
Curry’s choice is a bit more obvious. While the books played the same positional distribution, putting forwards at the top of the odds board, we think the main focus regarding his selection will be the color of players’ jerseys.
Durant is +150 only because James picks first and could take him, otherwise, Durant is as sure of a pick by Curry as the Warriors are to win night in and night out.
Once the change to the selection process was announced, Curry immediately responded to (then) speculations that he might be the West captain by stating that he’d pick all of his teammates.
That was the right thing to say, and since Durant is only Warriors player available in the first round pool, you can safely go and grab him at these odds. If you want to protect the bet and simply go for the unexpected, Anthony Davis at +500 is a great play. He’s not a direct rival, plays both sides of the court and is the popular yet modest guy, just like Curry.
For fun, we created each team’s starting lineups as we see captains’ selections playing out. (Pick in parenthesis)
TEAM JAMES: Harden (1), Davis (3), Antetokounmpo (5), DeRozan (7)
TEAM CURRY: Durant (2), Embiid (4), Irving (6), Cousins (8)
