The NBA All-Star takes place this weekend, in San Francisco, California. The event features three consecutive days of challenges, from traditional style games to skill challenges, the so-called “‘skills”’.
Some betting platforms have already released the odds for the main disputes of the event.
State Farm All-Star Saturday Night
On Saturday (15), the highlight is the “State Farm All-Star Saturday Night”, made up of three different tournaments. The first is the “KIA Skills Challenge”, where four pairs measure strength, one of the league’s newcomers, and another three made up of representatives from the Warriors, Spurs and Cavs. The Cleveland Cavaliers duo are the favorites to win, with odds of 2.95.
The second attraction is the “Starry 3-Point Contest”. With eight members, the challenge is to score the greatest number of 3-point baskets from different parts of the court. Damian Lillard, from the Bucks, is the most likely to win, winner of the last two editions, reaching 5 in the odds.
To conclude the day’s activities, the ‘AT&T Slam Dunk’ will take place, a unique and creative dunk tournament. With 1.44, Mac McClung, from the Osceola Magic team, from the G League, is also trying for his third consecutive victory.
NBA All-Star Game
The main event of the weekend, the All-Star Game ends on Sunday (16). Traditionally, the game is a competition between the East and West conferences, with teams made up of the best players, chosen by popular vote, athletes and the press. However, the 2025 edition will bring great news.
The selection of athletes remained the same, but instead of two teams, there will be four teams. The coaches for each team will be the American TNT commentators: Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Candace Parker.
The 24 chosen players will form the teams of the first three ‘coaches’, while Candace’s team will be the winner of the ‘Rising Star’, a competition between freshmen and representatives of the G League, a kind of base category of the NBA.
Thus, there will be three clashes, with two semi-finals and a final. The winner of each duel will be the team to reach the 40 point mark first.
Duels
The first clash will be between Chuck and Kenny’s teams, with Smith favoritism, with odds of 1.6. Later, Candace and Shaquille face off, with the former Lakers most likely to advance at 1.3. The favorite to be the first champion of this new model is the Shaq team, with an average of 2.55 at bookmakers.
Another competition within this game is to vote for ‘MVP’, the most important player in the tournament. Among the 24 participants, Stephen Curry and Victor Wembanyama, from Warriors and Spurs, respectively, compete for favoritism, followed by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, from Oklahoma City Thunder.
