NBA All Star Weekend Preview: Skills Competition, Dunk Contest & Three Point Shootout

The NBA All Star break is finally here and for a lot of teams and DFS grinders it’s a welcomed break to relax and refresh for the home stretch of the season. Charlotte, NC is the site this year and as always, we have the Rising Stars Challenge, the All-Star game itself and then the individual competitions which are to me the best part of the break.

This article is going to break down the Skills Challenge, the Dunk Contest, and the Three Point shootout which are all set to tip off on Saturday Night. They are always a blast to watch, and if we are going to tune in, we might as well look to see if we can have some fun and possibly pick a few winners to make the break a profitable one.

Skills Competition

The Skills Competition is usually the first event on Saturday night, and it is 8 players racing in an obstacle course like setting that tests their dribbling, shooting, and passing ability. The format is an elimination bracket with a guard and a center guaranteed to meet in the finals. Obviously, guards have a great skillset for this, but we have seen big men certainly hold their own with Towns, Porzingis and Laurie Markannen all taking home the trophy in recent years. Here is the field and the odds for this year’s competition (Odds are going to vary from book to book):

The Contestants

De’Aaron Fox +300

Luka Doncic +400

Trae Young +400

Nikola Jokic +600

Jayson Tatum +650

Mike Conley +650

Kyle Kuzma +700

Nikola Vucevic +850

My Prediction: I’ll take Jokic here at 6/1 and hope that he can add his name to the list of big men who have done well in this competition. Obviously Jokic has the skillset needed in terms of being able to handle the ball, be an accurate passer, and make the shot in order to possibly take down the contest. One other positive is that Jokic competed in this event two years ago so maybe that experience can pay off this time around.

Three Point Contest

The Three Point shootout to me is the best part of All Star weekend and the format is very simple. We have 10 players all who will go around the arc to 5 stations each with 5 balls and try to rack up the most 3 pointers made. Each rack has a “Moneyball” as the last ball which is worth 2 points instead of 1 and each contests has 1 station that is all Moneyball’s so the max score one could get is 34. After the first round 3 finalists move on and reshoot and the player with the highest score in that final round will be the champion. The field is pretty loaded with some legit NBA talent including the defending champ in Devin Booker.

The Contestants

Steph Curry +250

Devin Booker +400

Joe Harris +500

Buddy Hield +500

Seth Curry +600

Damien Lillard +800

Danny Green +900

Khris Middleton +1000

Kemba Walker +1000

Dirk Nowitzki +1500

My Prediction: Obviously Steph is the favorite as he won in 2015 and lost to Klay in 2016, but I’d rather take a stab with a guy at a better price and hope he can make it thru and give you a chance in the final three. Kemba Walker is the longshot that I would look at, as he is the hometown guy and finished third in this event in 2017 so again, I’m banking on past experience to be a big plus here. Depending on your book you may be able to find 10/1 + odds which is good enough for me for a competition where after Steph seems completely wide open.

Slam Dunk Contest

The Slam Dunk Contest caps off All Star Saturday night and despite some lackluster competitions in recent years there also have been some iconic NBA moments produced in this event. We have 4 players vying for the trophy and it’s a pretty simple format with each player having 2 first round dunks that are graded by the 5 judges. The top 2 scores move onto the finals and repeat the process to crown the champion.

The Contestants

Dennis Smith Jr +200

John Collins +225

Miles Bridges +225

Hamidou Diallo +300

My Prediction: Interesting group here as we have the hometown guy in Bridges and then two relatively unknown dunkers in Collins and Diallo, making it somewhat of a wide-open field. However I think they are all playing for second place as Dennis Smith Jr is the man to beat in my eyes and is the best shot even as the 2/1 favorite. He was in the contest last year, and was bounced out in the first round, but we all know how high he can get, and he does seem like a guy who really wants this trophy and made it a priority to return and get it. Plus Smith is a North Carolina native who went to NC State so like Bridges I expect the crowd to be behind him from the start.

Good Luck everyone and enjoy the break!

If you have any questions find me in the Awesemo.com premium slack chat or @JazzrazDFS on twitter.

Author
*Ben Rasa (aka Jazzraz)* has been involved with sports and numbers for quite some time dabbling in the poker world , sports wagering and of course finding a home in the DFS world. While he enjoys playing NFL, NCAAF and NBA he has found his best advantage on the links with PGA and the Euro Tour. Jazzraz focuses on GPPs and uses a analytical approach to try and find pricing inefficiencies as well as trying to go against the grain to find those under owned lesser know players that can make the difference in giant field tournaments. You can contact Ben by emailing [email protected].

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