Our experts deliver the NBA Rising Stars Betting Preview including the format, the teams and the best bets for Saturday’s mini-tournament.
Our experts deliver the NBA Rising Stars Betting Preview including the format, the teams and the best bets for Saturday’s mini-tournament.
The best NBA rookies, sophmores and G-League players will take the court as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend in a mini-tournament to decide the 2024 Rising Stars champion.
Some of the biggest names in the NBA will be featured including Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holgrem, Paolo Banchero and more to show off the talent that the league has for years to come.
Our NBA experts break down everything you need to know about the Rising Stars tournament including the format, teams, odds and best bets for Friday’s event.
The NBA Rising Stars will be played as a mini-tournament, with two games to start before a final between the winners of the opening matchups.
The one big change-up is that the games won’t be timed, but rather will be played up to a certain point amount. The game will end with either team scoring the final basket that puts them over the point total.
The first set of games will be played up to 40 points, while the final will be shorter at just 25 points.
Coaches Jalen Rose, Pau Gasol and Tamika Catchings had a draft on February 6, where they chose from a group of selected first and second-year players to make up their teams. German legend Detlef Schrempf is the fourth coach and will be leading a team made up exclusively of G-League players.
*Sochan was an injury replacement for Shaedon Sharpe
*Williams was an injury replacement for Dyson Daniels
*Bates was an injury replacement for Ron Holland
Team | Odds |
---|---|
Team Pau | +120 |
Team Tamika | +240 |
Team Jalen | +310 |
Team Detlef | +850 |
Game 1
Game 2
Handicapping an All-Star weekend mini-tournament is not easy, but we do see two bets that stand out to us here.
Our best bet for the Rising Stars is Team Pau in the second game. A loaded team that features Victor Wembanyama and Jaime Jaquez going up a group of G-League players? We will take them all day, even with a 5.5 spread.
In last year’s first round, Team Pau won their first game 40-25 against a team of NBA players. The G-League team didn’t fare too well in it’s only game, losing 40-32 against Team Joakim, whose roster doesn’t hold nearly the star power as Gasol’s squad this year.
It’s hard to see a group of G-Leaguers controlling Wembanyama, so we will ride the big rookie in the first round matchup.
Last year’s first round games saw totals of just 65 and 73 points. Going over 77.5 would mean that it would come down to a final basket, which would make it remarkably even throughout the entire contest.
Though both teams are evenly matched, it’s not likely that a game played up to 40 will be essentially tied going into the final possession. We will take the odds that one of these two teams has a slight advantage throughout and goes on to win by at least three points.
We recommend betting on the NBA Rising Stars game at FanDuel Sportsbooks. Aside from being one of our top sportsbooks, they are offering the best lines on the mini-tournament on Friday.
Plus, you can get $200 in bonus bets when you register, deposit and place a $5 wager on any game and win.
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