The NBA’s annual All-Star Weekend has arrived, and this year the league’s top players have convened in Los Angeles. This is the seventh time that the annual showcase has been in the City of Angels, but the first time that the Clippers will be the sole hosts.
All of the action will take place at the new Intuit Dome, which opened last season. The Clippers’ arena, which cost $2 billion, has drawn rave reviews from fans and players alike, and will become the center of the basketball world for three days.
The primary events are all back, but there are plenty of questions about the weekend. The Slam Dunk Contest remains devoid of stars, while the All-Star Game format has been tweaked once again. This time, it’s Team USA vs. Team USA vs. Team World. The All-Star selections have been separated into three teams and will compete in a round-robin tournament. The league hopes that pitting Americans against international players will generate a more competitive environment, but we’ll have to wait until Sunday to see if that makes a difference.
Ahead of this weekend’s festivities, CBS Sports’ panel of experts made their picks for the 3-Point Contest, Slam Dunk Contest, All-Star Game and All-Star Game MVP:
3-point Contest
3-point Contest odds
(Odds via FanDuel)
3-point Contest picks
Slam Dunk Contest
Slam Dunk Contest odds
Slam Dunk Contest picks
All-Star Game
NBA All-Star Game odds
NBA All-Star Game picks
All-Star Game MVP
All-Star Game MVP odds
All-Star Game MVP picks
Expert explanations
Gonzalez: Dame winning the 3-point contest with one fully functioning Achilles would make for a great story. (Please do not get hurt doing this.) I went with the World winning the game and Wemby taking MVP because he seems to be one of the few All-Stars who actually wants to be there. You’ll remember him getting ticked off at Anthony Edwards in the skills competition when Ant decided to shoot left handed for the lols. As for the dunk contest, there are no actual winners here — certainly not the fans. We can’t even get a Shaedon Sharpe for this thing?
Herbert: The theme here is that I think the guys I picked will take this stuff seriously. The 3-point field is loaded, so Knueppel might be a bold choice, but his form is picture-perfect and should translate to the contest. For the All-Star “Game,” I just picked the team that I thought would try the hardest. (I was tempted to take Team World, but, historically, Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić have not expended much energy on this stage.) I can see Cunningham and Jalen Duren setting a competitive tone, especially with J.B. Bickerstaff coaching them. My real dunk contest pick is ¯_(ツ)_/¯, but I went with Bryant, who says he already knows what he’s going to do with his first three dunks.
Maloney: Knueppel is a rookie, so you do have to wonder how he’ll handle the bright lights of All-Star Weekend, but he’s already established himself as one of the best pure shooters in the league and has made 45.9% of his open or wide-open 3s this season. My Dunk Contest pick is admittedly a shot in the dark, but I think Johnson will have something to prove given his status as a relative unknown. I’m going with Team World to win the All-Star Game and Victor Wembanyama to take home MVP. Even with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sidelined due to injury, Team World is the most talented bunch, and Wembanyama has made it abundantly clear that he’s taking this more seriously than everyone else.
Salerno: If you watched the movie “Hustle,” you know Kermit Wilts, AKA Anthony Edwards, loves competition. In this kind of format/showcase, guards tend to dominate. I’m going with Edwards, — and, by extension, the USA Stars team — to have a night to remember in Southern California. The new format hopefully will inject new life into the ASG. On Saturday night, I’m expecting the favorites to pull through.
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