NBA Dunk Contest Betting Preview
Saturday Night

Everyone’s favorite event is due to go down Saturday night in Brooklyn, and while a difficult event to handicap, there are a lot of reasons to expect the favored choice to prevail.  The dunk contest may never feature premier names again, but it does feature great athletes.

While it may never ultimately be as awesome to think of Jeremy Evans, Harold Miner, or all the other exciting dunkers who went on to play horribly, it is inspiring for a night to indulge in watching young talent trying to put on a show.  For NBA lines explained, click here.

All betting odds are courtesy of Bovada.

Zach LaVine -140

For those unfamiliar with Zach Levine’s leaping ability, and his -140 NBA live line, this promises to be a real treat. He’s the favorite and he is a safe choice to take this competition. There’s really no way to do justice to any of these options without the obligatory YouTube videos, but know that Levine can get his head above the rim, if you must know anything. He’s been making a quick ascent in Minnesota given the team’s rebuilding effort, and this could be a chance for LaVine to announce his arrival to the NBA. There are three other good dunkers in this competition, but LaVine is a great dunker.

Giannis Antetokounmpo +245

Giannis Antetokounmpo does have one thing working against him in this competition: his height. At 6’11” Giannis would have to bring some Larry Nance or Shawn Kemp type stuff out of the bag. But that’s just it. He can. Giannis should be able to make use of his length to pull some cat in the cradle tricks out for the fans, but it is going to be tough to take LaVine and his 48 inch vert down.

Victor Oladipo +350

Victor Oladipo is a great spark and really wanted to be in this competition, but it is tough to imagine him leapfrogging either Antetokounmpo or LaVine. In fact, it’s really hard to imagine why he is so much more favored than Plumlee. At just 6’3” it does look impressive when Oladipo puts the jets on, but he’s essentially a bullet, and it seems a good 360 might be the best he gives us.

Mason Plumlee +800

Former Duke Blue Devil Mason Plumlee flushes it down well in games, but we’ve seen little to indicate that he has the creativity to beat the other guys in this competition. He might have some tricks up the sleeve, but the big man principle applies to him, to a large extent. Judgement will be held out because guys surprise, but Plumlee is not worth considering for me.