The 2023 NBA All-Star Game tips off this Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, the home of the Jazz. As in recent years, commissioner Adam Silver and his ever-innovative NBA crew have added new wrinkles and tweaks to this season's midseason classic. From sparkly new All-Star rings to new interactive streaming options via the NBA App, there will be no shortage of glitz and glam, but within the sports betting community, this year's All-Star Game also has no shortage of annoyance and inconvenience.
As with any multi-billion dollar operation that consistently attempts to better its product, the NBA has been known to swing and miss from time to time. While its new pre-game All-Star Game draft one hour before tip-off might spark feelings of nostalgia amongst casual hoops fans who used to play pickup ball at local parks, the betting community could do without such innovations.
For a commissioner and league that have made it abundantly clear they embrace the legalization of sports betting in America, it seems pretty strange that Adam Silver and the NBA would put bettors in the awkward situation of either:
- Betting on one team or the other before either team drafts its players, or
- Waiting until just before tip-off to bet on a squad that has just been formed
MORE ALL-STAR BETTING:
Game odds, MVP | 3-Point Contest | Dunk Contest | Skills Challenge
LeBron and Giannis will be live drafting their squads starting at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT, literally right before the game tips off. Is this the NBA's way of telling us we really shouldn't even be wagering on this exhibition? Or are they just trolling us all because they know the majority of bettors will still throw some money down to make things more interesting?
Draft your #NBAAllStarDreamRoster!
— #NBAAllStar (@NBAAllStar) February 15, 2023
Choose your captain, starters and reserves against the computer on the NBA App! Sign up for a free NBA ID to unlock a custom graphic with your picks ⭐
➡️: https://t.co/31Se0FmSHt pic.twitter.com/rKMh9PzYwl
The always-candid Stan Van Gundy joked around on TNT Thursday night that he didn't understand why reporters and announcers would be going to All-Star practice on Saturday afternoon. Half-jokingly, he basically asked: How can they practice!? They don't even know what team they're on! And what can we ascertain from attending the practice!?
SVG made a great point about how silly the whole thing seems to be. By the same token, how can we bet on either team to win if we don't know who's playing on them? Caesars Sportsbook has Team LeBron favored by -3 with a -155 moneyline, while Team Giannis has a moneyline of +130. The over/under for this game is 325.5 points. Considering there is currently only one player on each team, that's a lot of points.
I'm being cheeky, of course — we all know each captain will ultimately pick 11 players to join them for the tip. However, many bettors have been left unamused by the whole charade of putting up odds before the teams are constructed.
MORE NBA ALL-STAR DRAFT:
Who will be the first starter picked? | SN experts mock draft
Frankly, we don't care one way or another. If you're wagering big money on a game that's basically meaningless in the grand scheme of things, you might want to ask Ray Allen for help.
That said, it does strike us as odd that the NBA would even want to do things this way. Betting is now legally operated in some capacity in 36 states, and Super Bowl 57 just shattered every sports betting record like Neegan at Walking Dead batting practice, with 100 million Super Bowl bets made on legal online sportsbooks alone, never mind at live casinos and in-person sportsbooks. Wouldn't the Association want the teams drafted sooner than later to increase public interest in and promotion of the event leading up to Sunday night?
As every good infomercial says, "But wait, there's more!" Yes, it gets dumber. The actual process of the pre-game draft will be tweaked, too, with LeBron and Giannis picking their reserves first and then each of them picking their four fellow starters. The purpose is to seemingly save the last players picked from embarrassment because ego and insecurity are as much an issue in 2023 as COVID was in '20. I guess nobody at the league office thought of the fact that the last reserve picked will be the last reserve picked whether the captains begin the draft with starters or reserves (but I digress).
There’s literally a “Mr Irrelevant” as the last pick of the NFL draft and the NBA wants to go this route?! Did they ever consider that there’s going to be a last pick of the starters??? Still a last pick of the reserves? 🤦♂️ https://t.co/LG46X9n5Uz
— Corey Townsley (@CoreyTownsley1) February 17, 2023
This development posed an even bigger issue with the betting community, as thousands of people had already bet on props related to the draft. Believe it or not, just like people bet on table tennis and cornhole, plenty of hoop-heads enjoy making fun wagers like "Who will LeBron pick No. 1?" or "Who will be the last pick of the draft?" Hell, we wrote yesterday about which player we might put our money on to go first, with yours truly and our expert mock drafters both ultimately choosing Luka Doncic (+320). Then this morning, the league tipped the draft sequence on its head.
How will sportsbooks approach handling the draft props countless people already bet on? Will they change the wording to "Which starter will LeBron pick No. 1?" and "Who will be the last reserve selected?" Will they just scrap the bets and send bettors their money back for draft-related props made before the announcement? Does the NBA even realize how senselessly dumb they are being by whipping out surprises like town fair magicians when 36 of our 50 states are betting on their product?
Lots of questions from the betting industry remain after all these developments, but one thing seems clear: Adam Silver and the usually brilliant NBA could use an in-house betting expert to save them from themselves at times like these. Regardless of how well the Association, sportsbooks, and TNT's ratings fare this weekend, they likely could have all done even better if the NBA's newest innovations didn't come off as bettor alienation.
