NBA All-Star Game: Team Giannis and Team LeBron Draft Odds, Prediction

Team captain Giannis Antetokounmpo injured his right wrist Thursday night on a defensive play against the Chicago Bulls. He missed the skills challenge on Saturday – he was replaced by Milwaukee Teammate Jrue Holiday. As of Sunday morning Feb. 19, his status is unknown for Sunday night’s All-Star Game itself.

Article as written on Thursday, Feb. 16:

The NBA All-Star Weekend’s festivities conclude with the big game itself on Sunday night, Feb. 19. After skills competitions, a slam dunk festival, a celebrity game, and a three-point shooting contest, the league’s biggest and brightest come out to shine in a friendly, usually over-the-top game of basketball. Defence is optional and typically discouraged.

As has been the case for a few seasons already, the best players no longer represent their respective conferences. Rather, two of the NBA’s most popular stars will have the luxury of drafting their lineups just before tip-off.

The team captains in question are, understandably, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Therefore, on Sunday evening, in the moments leading up to the tilt itself, each captain will select their starters and reserves to fill in the rosters for Team LeBron and Team Giannis.

Check out our NBA odds and props page for All-Star Weekend.

Who is Eligible?

A few weeks ago, the players eligible for the draft were announced in two phases. First, the starters were made public, then the reserves.

The eight players available to start the game – the automatic two being Giannis and LeBron, thus 10 players in total – are:

Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics

Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers

Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks

Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers

Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks

Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz

Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies

Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets

Of course, there are the reserves, which are much more plentiful and represent worthy inclusions in this year’s festivities. Jaylen Brown, Stephen Curry, Tyrese Haliburton, Jrue Holiday, Julius Randle, and Pascal Siakam just to name a few. Even Canada will be represented by OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Number One Overall Pick

The question on most people’s lips for our purposes is who will get picked first overall? The NBA All-Star voting process that decided the team captains gave a few more votes to LeBron James, meaning he will pick first.

It would be tempting to think that Nikola Jokic would have the best odds, but perhaps because he and LeBron play similar roles, King James will want a player who can complement his own skill set, thus it is believed Luka will go first overall.

Nikola Jokic has the next-best odds, which maybe is a bit surprising given that if Luka goes first, Giannis may want to pick Kyrie Irving. The latter plays a different game than Giannis, who could use the Dallas player’s wizarding ways in the paint. Even so, Vegas begs to differ.

It’s a little bit sad to see Donovan Mitchell trail so far back in sixth at +1000, a whopping 455 more than fourth-place Ja Morant. Mitchell’s arrival in Cleveland has unquestionably helped in that team’s rise from a potential play-in squad to a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference. Their improvement is paving the way toward home-court advantage in at least the first round of the playoffs, if not the second as well.

Prediction: Luka will go first, but don’t be surprised if Irving or Tatum are picked second.