NBA All-Star Skills Challenge Prediction & Odds, 2/16/19

All-Star Skills Challenge Prediction

The annual NBA All-Star Saturday Night Festivities will kick off with the All-Star Skills Challenge. Which dynamic player will come away with the victory in this event?

Odds

According to oddsmakers at BetNow.eu, De’Aaron Fox is the favorite to win this event, as he is listed with 3/1 odds. Other odds are Trae Young (7/2), Luka Doncic (4/1), Nikola Jokic (9/2), Jayson Tatum (6/1), Mike Conley (6/1), Kyle Kuzma (7/1) and Nikola Vucevic (8/1). The All-Star Skills Challenge will take place as part of NBA All-Star Saturday Night, which will be held from the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event starts at 8PM ET and will air live on TNT.

Format

The All-Star Skills Challenge is a more diverse competition that forces the competitors to be skilled in all areas of offense. That includes, dribbling, passing and shooting. Two participants race against each other on identical courses by first dribbling between five obstacles while running down the court. Next, the player must throw a pass into a net that does not touch the ground. Then, the players must dribble back the full length of the court for a lay-up. The final challenge for the competitor has them dribble back down the court and hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The contest ends when the first player hits the three pointer. Only two players compete at a time in a single-elimination tournament.

Prediction

It’s tough to really single anyone out from this field, as it features a field of mostly new competitors. Jokic is the only one to have taken part in it before, which I think gives him a leg up. He reached the semifinals in 2017 before losing to the eventual winner, Kristaps Porzingis. Jokic is a perfect player for this event, as he has a game that fits this competition well. A triple-double contender most nights, Jokic can shoot from the outside and pass well. While his speed may not be as great as other competitors, his ability to pass and shoot accurately should help him. The bigger players have actually done quite well in previous years. Porzingis won in 2017 while Karl-Anthony Towns won in 2016.

All-Star Skills Challenge Prediction: Nikola Jokic 9/2