NBA Rising Stars Game All-Star Weekend 2024
Chet Holmgren's got a point to prove and a stud teammate in tow for Team Jalen in tonight's Rising Star Games. See if the Thunder tandem can make some early noise at All-Star Weekend with our NBA picks.
NBA All-Star Weekend will kick off with the Rising Stars on Friday night, showcasing some of the best young talent the game has to offer. For a third straight year, we’ll witness a four-team tournament to determine the winner, with sportsbooks offering NBA odds for fans to get in on the action.
Let's get right into it with our in-depth preview and NBA picks for the Rising Stars showcase on Friday, February 16.
NBA Rising Stars team rosters and odds
Team Pau (+145)
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Team Tamika (+200)
Team Jalen (+280)
Team Detlef (+750)
2024 Rising Stars Challenge Picks
Team Jalen vs. Team Tamika predictions
Let’s first start by saying, there’s no perfect science to betting on the Rising Stars. We don’t have season-long trends to see how these squads play together, where their strengths lie and so on. With that said, just by looking at the rosters, we should be able to get a good feel for how things will go.
Team Jalen is my favorite in the tournament. I think Chet Holmgren has a lot to prove here against a field headlined by the man drafted ahead of him, Paolo Banchero, and the man trying to strong-arm Rookie of the Year from him in Victor Wembanyama.
I like Team Jalen a lot in this contest. Benedict Mathurin was one of the best players in this event a year ago, and he totaled seven points per contest in the two games he played. Jalen Williams has the experience of playing here a season ago, and while he scored just six points in two games he did contribute on the boards and on defense.
I really just like Holmgren here as the player who may dominate this event — it’ll be his first year in it, and I think he’s arguably a bit ahead of Wembanyama in his seasoning at the moment. He’ll also be playing with a teammate for increased chances of any sort of team chemistry, and on the other side of this one, the returning players on the whole for Team Tamika didn’t have the best showings a season ago.
My best bet: Team Jalen moneyline (+100 at FanDuel)
Team Detlef vs. Team Pau predictions
Pau Gasol is going for a second-straight win in this event, and it’s hard to expect him not to return to the final given the roster he’s assembled here. He’ll be trotting out a fearsome tandem with Victor Wembanyama and Brandon Miller, who should wind up being scoring machines. On top of that, the shooting should continue beyond Miller with Brandin Podziemski and Jabari Smith in the fold.
Overall, this is simply a stacked roster, and one which is very deserving of being the favorite to win this whole competition. They certainly have the best top-end offensive talent, though we’ll have to see what happens on defense and how these guys all share the ball.
At least for this first game, things shouldn’t be all that close. The team comprised mainly of G-League players a season ago lost by eight in the first round, and that was against a team that probably wasn’t as good as the one holding the top two picks from this past summer’s draft.
This one really should not be close.
My best bet: Team Pau -6.5 (-110 at FanDuel)
Rising Stars outright pick
As you may have guessed, I like a play on Team Jalen to win this event. They are the clear-cut second fiddle to Team Pau, despite what oddsmakers think, and should they reach the final, I think they work together as a team a bit better than Team Pau might be able to, given the number of mouths to feed on offense.
It’s all speculation, really, and we have to play narratives a bit in these events. Holmgren looking to finally win one over on Banchero and Wemby with one of his teammates sounds like more than enough reason to grab Team Jalen at +310 to win this thing, and I’m particularly excited to see Dereck Lively II go to work on Wemby in a likely final between Team Jalen and Team Pau on Friday. This bunch can scrap, and they’ve also got the guy who was probably the most reliable offensive option returning from last year’s Rising Stars in Mathurin.
My best bet: Team Jalen outright (+310 at FanDuel)
