All-Star weekend in Indiana is here! Expect Tyrese Haliburton to walk away with some hardware, while Jaime Jaquez is a sleeper pick to throw together a handful of eye-opening dunk packages.
Need some extra action for NBA All-Star Weekend? You've come to the right place. Check out our best bets right here. Best of luck and enjoy the festivities!
3-Point Contest Pick: Tyrese Haliburton (+500)
With the second-best odds to win the contest slightly behind Damian Lillard at +475, we like Haliburton to not only win this contest, but to be the “MVP” of the weekend at his home arena, in front of his home fans, and ultimately come with some hardware.
While many are choosing Lillard to repeat, the newly acquired Buck is shooting just 34.4% from downtown this season. As for the hometown hero Haliburton, he’s averaged over 40% from deep in each of his five seasons including exactly 40% over his last two seasons.
He’s also coming in scorching from beyond the arc over the Pacers’ last three games going 12 of 26 using his unorthodox shooting form. Advancing to the final round of the contest last season, you have to believe he’ll have a great shot to do this again.
Haliburton has been the best player and most consistent shooter out of the eight participants this year. We would play this number all the way to +400 on most books.
Skills Challenge Pick: Team Pacers (+210)
It’s just basketball in 49 other states, they say. That should be the case this weekend as we are predicting two Pacer victories between Haliburton’s 3-point contest and the skills challenge that will feature Tyrese, guard Benedict Mathurin, and center Myles Turner.
While Haliburton’s playmaking skills are off the charts averaging 11.7 APG this season to out-play-make his 10.4 APG mark last season, look for team chemistry to matter in this contest that features relays, passing, and shooting.
Bennedict hasn’t had to be a key playmaker for this Indiana team, but still has been able to shoot the ball extremely well since his college days at Arizona in the clutch. Myles Turner is quick enough to help Indiana win this contest and in front of the home fans, will play with more energy.
The team with Scottie Barnes, Maxey, and Trae Young is too inconsistent for us to trust and the Banchero, Wemby, and Edwards team might be too slow to trust in this one, although Anthony Edwards is the ultra-competitor who will bring the most energy in this contest.
Dunk Contest Pick: Jaime Jaquez Jr. (+650)
While Mac McClung looks like the heavy favorite in this one, we would splash some money on Jaime Jaquez to win this contest. While he isn’t the flashiest in-game player, Jaquez has shown to put together some nice dunk packages.
This was especially true when Jaquez was at UCLA and during his high school days in Southern California. While McClung is the most athletic out of this bunch, Jaime might get the most creative and shock Indiana.
