NBA Rising Stars Challenge Preview, Odds and Picks

The NBA Rising Stars Challenge has a new format as there will be four teams consisting of seven players in a miniature tournament with rookies, sophomores, and players from the G League Ignite. Each team is going to be coached by people from the NBA 75 team with James Worthy, Rick Barry, Isiah Thomas, and Gary Payton coaching these young stars. 

The competition will consist of a “race to 75” points as the semifinal games will be played to 50 and the finals played to 25. However, there will also be a timed shooting competition taking place between the semifinals and the finals. This is a lot different from rookies vs sophomores or USA vs The World that these games used to be. Below will be a list of rosters for each team so we can dissect it a bit. 

Team Barry: Cade Cunningham, Dyson Daniels, Evan Mobley, Isaac Okoro, Alperen Sengun, Jae’Sean Tate, Franz Wagner

Team Isiah: Precious Achiuwa, Desmond Bane, Saddiq Bey, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Jaden Hardy, Isaiah Stewart

Team Payton: LaMelo Ball, Scottie Barnes, Ayo Dosunmu, Scoot Henderson, Jaden McDaniels, Davion Mitchell, Jonathan Kuminga

Team Worthy: Cole Anthony, MarJon Beauchamp, Josh Giddey, Jalen Green, Herbert Jones, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Suggs

What Are The Odds?

According to top online sportsbooks, Team Isiah is the favorite at +200 while Team Barry is +225, Team Worthy is +300, and finally in last is Team Payton sitting at +325. These teams are all very similar in terms of odds so there isn’t a team too far out. 

What Should We Bet Then?

Since the brackets have not been released and the odds are all favorable, I will provide you with two teams that should be bet on and discuss why I like them. The first team to highlight is Team Isiah as they have scoring options that should be able to mesh well and Isaiah Stewart to grab rebounds down low. The scoring options of Desmond Bane and Tyrese Haliburton are criminally underrated and there is a reason why they are the favorites in this competition. They have a solid all-around team in this competition and should be seen as such. 

The other team that you should be betting to have a great chance at winning is Team Worthy. You are getting great odds with +300 here and they have a bunch of scoring threats with Josh Giddey, Jalen Green, and Tyrese Maxey. Giddey is climbing up the rankings as a rookie as he just had a huge triple-double against the New York Knicks so his play seems to take a step in the right direction in the bright lights like the All-Star Weekend. 

MarJon Beauchamp has been doing well this season in the G League as in 12 games, he is averaging 15.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists so he has been playing well and should slide in well against some of the players he grew up playing against. Both these teams should win their semifinals game (if they aren’t facing one another) and that makes it a lot easier to cash out when we have both sides. 

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