NBA Slam Dunk contest odds for 2023: Predictions, picks & schedule

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This is not your grandfather’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Gone are the days when the game’s most impressive dunkers and really the game’s best players in general participated in the contest – Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant, just to name a handful. Now the field is made of much younger, lesser-known rising stars.

Our experts have taken a look at the NBA Slam Dunk Contest odds at Caesars Sportsbook and are ready to bring you their picks in advance of the Saturday night festivities in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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The four participants are Kenyon Martin Jr., Mac McClung, Trey Murphy III and Jericho Sims. Here are the NBA Slam Dunk Contest odds, from top to bottom:

Mac McClung +110

Kenyon Martin Jr. +275

Jericho Sims +300

Trey Murphy III +340

A $10 bet on McClung returns $11 in profit if the former Georgetown and Texas Tech player emerges victorious over his competitors. The biggest possible bang for your buck would come with Murphy, who is the longshot at +340 odds. That means a $10 wager gets you $34 in winnings if Murphy lifts the trophy.

It seems like an incredibly tight field this year, with four unproven and seemingly very different dunkers. There does not appear to be any obvious favorite, so betting on the player with the shortest NBA Slam Dunk Contest odds (McClung) probably isn’t the most valuable choice.

Our experts will instead back Sims (+300) to take home the title, as he is the most naturally gifted athlete of the bunch. The vertical jump that he recorded at the 2021 NBA combine (44.5 inches) is the third-highest jump in the history of the event.

That is the sort of athleticism that should allow plenty of scope for creativity for the New York Knicks’ center. With Sims possessing more bounce than the two forwards in this competition (Martin and Murphy) and more length than McClung, look for the Knicks to put forward their second consecutive Slam Dunk Contest winner on the heels of Obi Toppin’s triumph last year.

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All-Star Saturday Night begins at 8:00 p.m. ET on TNT. The Skills Challenge is first up, followed by the 3-Point Contest and then the Slam Dunk Contest. The exact start time of the Slam Dunk Contest depends on how long it takes to complete the first two events.

The order for dunk #1 of the first round will be set by a random draw that has not yet taken place. Each participant gets two dunks that will count toward their full first-round score, and the order of dunk #2 will be the inverse of the dunk #1 scores. In other words, the player in last place will go first for dunk #2 of the opening round and the player in first place will go last.

All the upcoming events in Salt Lake City are available for wagering at Caesars Sportsbook. If you find value in the NBA Slam Dunk contest odds like our experts have, that is one of the markets on which you can bet. Regardless of your decision, make sure you register at Caesars in time for Saturday’s festivities and use the promo code MLIVEFULL.

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