Will Betting On The NBA All-Star Game Make It Tolerable?

NBA All-Star Game

There is really no delicate way to put this: All-Star Games are pure trash. The NFL doesn't even have an All-Star weekend anymore. The Pro Bowl was on a Tuesday, and the players involved were laughable. The MLB All-Star Game is slightly more entertaining, but even the Home Run Derby hasn't been quite as exciting as it once was. The NBA, which already has an issue with players trying, is a joke. Players don't care, fans seem to not even be close to interested, and they just keep tweaking it to see if, maybe, somehow, they can make people care about the game. The only way you'll get me to care is to put a little bit of my money on the NBA All-Star Game, and that is my plan. 

The format for the All-Star Game is to have three teams in a round robin of games. This is similar to last year, but this year the teams are divided up by two USA teams and one world team. I'm not going to list rosters for you, because honestly, that would be boring. 

The first game is between the USA Stars and the World team. If the World team had every player, and they were all trying, I think they would blow out the Americans, even if they combined both USA teams. That's a debate for a different day. However, the World team is missing Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Luka Doncic. So, basically, three of their starting five players. They do still have some solid players. The best player in the world, Nikola Jokic will play, but he doesn't really try in these exhibitions. Victor Wembanyama, who is partially credited with the idea, will try and likely will do well. Believe it or not it is hard to stop a 7ft 3 inch alien. The rest of the team, though, is not all that impressive, and I don't think they have a point guard or really any guard depth. The USA Stars don't have the same injury concern. They have some decent people to guard Team World as well. I actually think they have two players who might really try - Anthony Edwards and Cade Cunningham. I could be very wrong, but both seem to like the attention, and I think we could see them both light it up. Give me the Stars +120 on the moneyline.

In the second game, it is the World team against the Stripes team. This is a team full of older guys. Jaylen Brown is there, and so is Jalen Brunson, but they have Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Donovan Mitchell. De'Aaron Fox is younger as well, but these ones all seem to be a bunch of old heads. It almost feels like when you're playing pickup and you have a group of old guys thinking they can take on the youngsters. Don't get me wrong, Durant and James still can play, and the combination of these guys will be solid. However, I don't think the World will lose both games, and I think they probably win this one over a slower, older squad. If the World wants to, they can play bully ball. Defensively they will struggle to match up, though. I'd rather back over 81.5 than the side in this. There are some NBA games that seem like they can drop 40 points in a quarter and no defense whatsoever will be played here. Jaylen Brown is likely to try and shoot 30 threes in the game as he did last time he was in the All-Star Game.

The final game is between the two American teams. This one is a bit simpler to me. The young guys vs. the old guys. This is something Edwards definitely feasts on, but the question is if he will eat even if this main course is not that appetizing, given that there is nothing really on the line. Still, I'll take the Stars again to win at +105. 

Three bets that can at least get you through the first three games. Bet and don't watch. Bet and see if they hit. Whatever we can do to make this interesting, I'm game. 

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