Friday, March 29

2022 NBA All-Star Game MVP tracker: Who will win award in Cleveland?


The 2022 NBA All-Star Game is Sunday night in Cleveland. Perhaps the most underrated market to bet on all year (in all sports) is NBA ASG MVP. We’ve got Team LeBron vs. Team Durant II in what should be another lopsided win for King James’ squad.

LeBron’s side is stacked with Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Not to mention DeMar DeRozan, Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler. Team KD will feature, well, no Kevin Durant. They will have Joel Embiid, Ja Morant, LaMelo Ball and Devin Booker.

Below we’re going to be tracking player performances from the All-Star Game as superstars try and capture the Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player award.

Pre-game update — We’ve got a few developments. Donovan Mitchell (illness) was ruled out prior to game time for Team LeBron. Chris Paul is also not expected to play much tonight and will miss 6-8 weeks due to a fracture in his thumb. So that’s Team LeBron down two bodies. It helps Butler’s chances of playing more and having an outside shot at ASG MVP. Garland is also in that group. We could just see LeBron’s starters play a ton as well. That would mean more Giannis, Steph, DeRozan and Jokic.

Before the game gets going, let’s look at the ever-changing market on DraftKings Sportsbook for ASG MVP. Here’s the full list of odds. I’ll go over some of the plays I’ve got for the game.

These odds are as of this afternoon and we’ll see what the movement looks like before the game starts. Morant has been the most bet on player to win ASG MVP and as a result, his odds have jumped up as high as +500. Those have gone back down as you can see.

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History is against Giannis repeating as ASG MVP. If anyone can shake the trend, it’s probably him. LeBron has a ton of narrative on his side with the game being in Cleveland. He can also tie Kobe and Bob Pettit for most ASG MVPs at four for his career.

Here are my plays for tonight (odds when bet was placed, not current):

LeBron +600
Curry +900
Doncic +1100
Booker +2500
LaMelo +4000

I talked myself into the LeBron narrative against my better judgement. James and the Lakers are struggling. This is a much needed break for him and his team is stacked. There’s definitely a clear path to a triple-double and it’s LeBron, so he’ll always have the edge when it comes to voting.

Curry and Doncic feel undervalued in this format. Doncic has been quiet through two All-Star Games. Maybe he just doesn’t care as much or maybe this is the year he breaks out. Curry had 28 points in 22 minutes in 2021 and probably would have won ASG MVP had it not been for Giannis scoring 35. All Steph would have to do to win is outscore everyone, which doesn’t seem that crazy.

My two long shot bets are Book and Melo. The Suns went into the ASB scorching hot and Booker can fill it up. We know how much Booker looked up to Kobe Bryant and I’m sure the Suns guard would love to honor his hero by winning ASG MVP. Just knowing Booker is the type of player who will “go for it” in his game is encouraging at 25/1.

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As for Melo, he’s just super flashy. He’s also the type who will go into tonight wanting to put on a show and let everyone know he always belonged in this game. That semi-chip on the shoulder mentality coupled with Melo’s offensive game in a non-defense exhibition forced me to sprinkle a bit at long odds.

Giannis Antetokounmpo +450
LeBron James +450
Ja Morant +500
Joel Embiid +700
Stephen Curry +1000
Luka Doncic +1100
DeMar DeRozan +1200
Trae Young +1800
Jayson Tatum +2200
Devin Booker +2500
Nikola Jokic +2500
Donovan Mitchell +4000
Chris Paul +4000
LaMelo Ball +4500
Jimmy Butler +5000
Karl-Anthony Towns +5000
Darius Garland +6000
Zach LaVine +6000
Andrew Wiggins +8000
Fred VanVleet +9000
Khris Middleton +9000
Dejounte Murray +10000
Rudy Gobert +12000
Jarrett Allen +12000

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