The 2021 NBA All-Star Game has arrived and all the best in the League have descended upon Atlanta for the weekend festivities. Unlike past years, this year the NBA has condensed all of the events into one jam-packed Sunday evening. Coverage of the events will begin at 5:00 p.m. ET on TNT.
First up we have the Skills Challenge, which once again will feature more big men than pure guards. Almost all of the contestants in the Skills Challenge are All-Stars with the exception of Portland Trail Blazers F Robert Covington. Next, is the 3-Point Contest, which will feature all All-Stars. Plus, the Slam Dunk contest, which will take place during halftime of the All-Star Game. We have all the odds and some picks to consider on DraftKings Sportsbook below:
Here we’ll be tracking all the action, providing analysis, live updates and highlights from all the contests and the 2021 All-Star Game.
8:37 p.m. — ZION DUNK ALERT! That’s the first of hopefully many tonight that gets us a nice cashout on 20/1 to win MVP. Pretty even game so far in the early going, a few nice dunks.
8:32 p.m. — We’re almost about to get underway (finally) tonight for the ASG. So here’s a look at the top odds to win ASG MVP on DraftKings Sportsbook:
Giannis Antetokounmpo +300
LeBron James +500
Stephen Curry +800
Luka Doncic +900
Kyrie Irving +900
Zion Williamson +1000
Bradley Beal +1200
James Harden +1400
Nikola Jokic +1400
Kawhi Leonard +1400
Damian Lillard +1400
8:07 p.m. — Intros are starting, so remember, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons aren’t playing tonight due to Covid-19 contact tracing. Zion Williamson is starting for Embiid on Team Durant. You can find the full rosters here.
8:01 p.m. — We’ve got a bit of movement on the odds for the ASG. The spread is still -4 for Team LeBron. The O/U is up to 319 after opening around 312. Team LeBron is -195 on the ML while Team Durant is +163 now. As was mentioned before, I have Team LeBron -4.5 and Team LeBron 1Q -1 spreads. Also just a reminder of the MVP action we’ve got:
James Harden 14/1
Zion Williamson 20/1
Chris Paul 50/1
Nikola Jokic 20/1
Damian Lillard 14/1
7:54 p.m. — So if you’re just joining us we’ve got two winners so far tonight. Domantas Sabonis won the Skills Comp at 5/1 on DKSB. Chef Curry gave us a show in the 3-Point Shootout as the favorite at +110 and won his second 3-Point Contest title. Now we’ve got the All-Star Game up next!
7:51 p.m. — Curry isn’t even real man. Steph Curry won his second 3-point title by hitting the last moneyball to knock off Conley 28-27 in the final round. Curry was the favorite and came through for bettors. That was just an amazing performance.
7:47 p.m. — OH BABY DON’T SLEEP ON THE LEFTY. Conley posted a 27 in the second round and is looking dangerous. Steph is up next and needs to beat 27 to win his second 3-point contest.
7:46 p.m. — Tatum got us started in the second round and struggled with 17 points. That may not be enough to get it done. There’s no way Curry isn’t in the final at this point. Conley looked pretty decent in Round 1 as well. We could be staring down Curry vs. Conley in this final.
7:40 p.m. — CHEF CURRY IS COOKIN! Steph dropped a cool 31 points to lead the round and advance. So Curry, Tatum and Conley will advance to the next round. After that first round from Curry, I don’t know if anyone can beat him. Also RIP Zach LaVine bet at 5/1. Pour one out … Steph wasn’t even fair …
7:37 p.m. — Mitchell got off to a slow start but was able to tie LaVine with 22 points and avoid elimination. Curry will need to beat 22 points to advance to the next round at least. We’ll see if the 2015 champ can come through. He’s the favorite on DKSB.
7:35 p.m. — MIKE CONLEY WASNT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE HERE. Conley finished with the best round so far at 28 points. D-Mitch is up next and Steph closes us out.
7:28 p.m. — My pick LaVine ended up with 22 in the first round, which may be enough to advance. It’s going to be close. He started off with the moneyball rack and made 3 of 5 shots. He missed both longe-range Mt. Dew shots as well.
7:26 p.m. — Brown’s teammate Jayson Tatum did much better. He posted 25 points in the first round and that’ll be a good score to advance to the second round. We’ve got the two Jazz players, Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell, plus Steph and Zach LaVine still to go.
7:24 p.m. — Jaylen Brown started us off and he did not do well. Brown finished with 17 points in his first round. It’ll be tough to advance with that number. He was the longest odds to win, which makes sense.
7:15 p.m. — The 3-Point Contest is up next and we’ve got action on Zach LaVine at 5/1 to win on DKSB. We’ll be recapping a bit after each round, there are some props on DraftKings Sportsbook as well, so we’ll see if anyone goes O26.5 points in a round.
7:11— SAAAAAAABONIS. Both players struggled on the 3-pointer but Sabonis eventually got it done to take home the win. Sabonis was the runner-up last season and seemed to steamroll his way to the Skills Challenge title. This is the second straight season a big man has won the contest; Bam Adebayo won last year. Check out the full recap here.
7:00 — VUUUUUUUCE AGAIN! CP3 is out! Vucevic advances to the ALL BIG MAN FINAL. Sabonis vs. Vucevic for all the marbles! Both players were long shots at +550 on DKSB to win this challenge.
6:58 p.m. — Sabonis just knocked off the favorite in Doncic and will advance to the Finals! Sabonis made it look easy too! Doncic struggle on the pass and Sabonis banged the 3-pointer on the first try again. Sabonis may be the favorite going into the final.
6:57 p.m. — VUUUUUUUCEE!! Vucevic beats Covington by a hair on the 3-pointer and will advance to face CP3 in the second round.
6:56 p.m. — Sabonis smoked Randle in their first round matchup, so the New York Knicks All-Star is ousted. Sabonis will advance to face Doncic in the second round.
6:38 p.m. — So Luka Doncic and CP3 get byes in the Skills Challenge for the first round. Domantas Sabonis will face Julius Randle while Robert Covington will take on Nikola Vucevic in the first. The winner of the first matchup advances to play Doncic and RoCo or Vuce will face CP3.
5:30 p.m. — So the Skills Challenge is about to get going. I didn’t make any bets for this comp but would consider a few long shot odds. Domantas Sabonis did well in this competition last season and is +550 on DKSB. I also don’t mind RoCo at +700; he was at +600 and +650 at different points before Sunday. It will either be Luka taking this or one of the big men, in my mind. We’ll see though, CP3 is +175 with Doncic and has competed in this contest a few times and hasn’t won. Maybe he’s more motivated than we think.
4:54 p.m. — Welcome to the NBA All-Star Game live blog! We’ll be providing updates throughout the evening on all the events and action. Things are going to get underway shortly, so I’m just going to go over a few picks I’ve already entered (and will most likely regret in a few hours).
As far as lines, I picked up Team LeBron -4.5 and Team LeBron -1 1Q spreads. Team KD losing Joel Embiid is pretty big even though it should open up more playing time for Zion Williamson. Team LeBron was already stacked and I think will come out and win the first quarter pretty easily.
I’ve also thrown a lot of darts on MVP, here’s a rundown:
James Harden 14/1
Zion Williamson 20/1
Chris Paul 50/1
Nikola Jokic 20/1
Damian Lillard 14/1
I didn’t invest too much on any of these bets, mostly just guys I think have value in the MVP market. Zion’s line has moved up to 14/1 since the announcement he’d be starting for Embiid. The only other bet I have is Zach LaVine to win the 3-Point Contest at 5/1. You can hit me up on Twitter @BenZweimanDKN with your picks!