NBA Rising Stars Game Best Bet
There are a ton of different things to bet on for the NBA All-Star Weekend. This all starts tonight with the Rising Stars Game. It is a different format from what you might be familiar with in the past years, so let me break it down a bit.
There was another draft - everyone loves drafts for All-Star games now, right? Well, now there are four Rising Stars teams that have been drafted for a tournament. The games are not timed - at least I don't think they are - instead, they are a race to 50 points by 2's and 3's. Each team has seven players. In the player pool are 12 rookies, 12 sophomores, and four G-league players. Each team has one G-League player, but the rookies and sophomores were not evenly dispersed.
The best players in the tournament are Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Evan Mobley, Scottie Barnes, and Cade Cunningham. There is talent splattered around the rosters, but I do think two teams are far superior to other two. Let's start with the worst team - Team Worthy. They have some good players, but the talent on this team will not match the others. Jalen Green will jack up questionable shots and Cole Anthony is really the only true scoring threat in my opinion.
Second worst to me is Team Payton. LaMelo Ball might be the best or second-best player in the tournament, but I don't see him as the scoring threat he will need to be in a race to the points. He also played 40 minutes last night. Scottie Barnes should show out here, and they may be able to win their first game. Maybe even the tournament, but I think they were better before they lost Chris Duarte and Davion Mitchell. Ayo Dosunmu could be a difference-maker for them. But I think the other two teams are still better.
The best two teams are Team Barry and Team Isiah. I'm taking Team Thomas, or Team Isiah (same thing, I've seen it listed differently at different books) to win the tournament. I think they are the most well-rounded. Anthony Edwards is the best scorer - he can do it all offensively and I don't expect teams to want to play defense. For Team Isiah, they have Desmond Bane, Saddiq Bey, Edwards, and Tyrese Haliburton. Those four should be on the court when it matters and while getting a stop could be an issue, stopping them should be harder.
The only other team I think that has a chance is Team Barry, I just think they will be a bit too young to take this one. Franz Wagner, Cade Cunningham, and Evan Mobley all should be good enough to compete, but if they draw a bad matchup to open, they might not get out of the first round.