Game Time: 8:00 PM ET, Sunday, February 20th, 2022 

Venue:  Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, Ohio

Where to Watch:  TNT and TBS

DraftKings:  Spread:  

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  

WynnBet: Spread:  NL

In 2018 the NBA eliminated their traditional All-Star game format of East vs West. Instead they decided to have the leading vote getters act as Captains and pick their own teams via a playground style… in your face… “I got him” kind of way.  It created an enjoyable segment of TV as well.  The team captains this year were Kevin Durant and LeBron James.  Durant is an odd team captain as he will not play in the game.  LeBron is a natural selection as he is captain for the fifth straight year and his team has won the game a perfect 4-0 so far!  The point of captains was to have it start out even and remain mostly even as the players picked what players might best suit their style… but with Durant sidelined…, LeBron’s team starts with an advantage and that advantage is LeBron James.  

Team Durant Starters: C Joel Embiid, PG Ja Morant, SF Jayson Tatum, SF Andrew Wiggins, and PG Trae Young.  Yes this is a bizarre team… great center… two great small forwards and two great point guards.  Still the chance to see Ja Morant lead Tatum and Wiggins on the break is gonna be something out of this world!  

Team LeBron Starters: C Nikola Jokic, PF LeBron James, PF Giannis Antetekounmpo, PG Stephen Curry, and SG DeMar DeRozan.  Can you see the natural advantage already?  The hall of Fame may want to collect these jerseys at the game’s end.  Steph, Bron, Joker, the Greek Freak, and D-Day!  That is an unstoppable team… Who exactly is Trae Young supposed to guard?

Team Durant bench:  PG LaMelo Ball, SG Devin Booker, C Rudy Gobert, SG Zach LaVine, SF Khris Middleton, PG Dejounte Murray, and C Karl-Anthony Towns.   Joining Kevin Durant on injured reserve will be PF Draymond Green

Team LeBron bench:  SF Jimmy Butler, PG Luka Doncic, PG Darius Garland, SG James Harden, SG Donovan Mitchell, PG Chris Paul, PG Fred VanVleet.  James Harden was taken with the last pick of the “draft” for these teams as Durant didn’t want Harden anywhere near his team.  Harden though most likely won't play as he still has to pretend his hamstring is giving him trouble.

*There is a trend that should be too great to ignore… Young point guards are taking over the league!  Both squads are up to their ears in quality, game-changing, electric young point guards!  Kyrie Irving’s holdout from getting the Covid vaccine came at the perfect time for LaMelo Ball, Fred VanVleet, and Darius Garland… Ja Morant and Trae Young were locks in the East but one of the others may have been nudged out if Irving was still in the discussion.  If Kyrie Irving never makes it back to being a full time player… or even a guy on a winning team... He’s about to learn the hard lesson that the league misses very few players.  

*Maybe the most disrespectful result of the all-star voting is that the Phoenix Suns all-stars Chris Paul and Devin Booker should be all-star starters!  They are the stars of the winningest team and have decidedly beaten all the other all-stars’ teams.  Yes, DeMar DeRozan is having a great season, yes Andrew Wiggins is defeating the doubters, yes Donovan Mitchell is fun to watch!  All these and more.  Yet the Phoenix Suns have the best record in the league and it is not even close. If the ,mark of an all-star is stats?... Then why is there still a discussion between MJ and LeBron… clearly LeBron is the better player if we take away worrying about winning.

* There are some noticeable absences from this time around.  No Anthony Davis, no Bradley Beal, no Kyrie Irving, no Kawhi Leonard, no Zion Williamson, no Jalen Brown, no Paul George, no Domantas Sabonis, no Ben Simmons, no Julius Randle.  Julius Randle and Domantas Sabonis got nudged out by better performing players… Jaylen Brown got completely snubbed.  The rest of the absences tell a scary story of how injuries decimated the NBA this year. Injury is normally a powerful force in the NBA, but this season has been brutal. Lot’s of high end, Max contract NBA Superstars are missing entire seasons if not giant chunks of this season.  In Ben Simmons’ and Kyrie Irving’s cases, deliberately sitting out has been described as sort of a mental injury.  

*First time All-Star Cleveland Cavaliers’ point guard Darius Garland will be playing with home court advantage.  He will also be playing with LeBron on Team LeBron… the King of Cleveland, anointing a first time Cleveland all-star in Cleveland.  He won’t come out of it as popular as Joe Burrow, but he will get a lot of attention in Ohio.  It will feel like Darius Garland’s day in chunks when he is on the court.  He’s also pretty good if you haven’t been watching.

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In 2021 Team LeBron beat Team Durant 170-150… the MVP was Giannis Antetokounmpo

In 2020 Team LeBron beat Team Giannis 157-155 in a rare “close game”... the MVP was Kawhi Leonard… in maybe the last time we ever saw him play at a high level.

In 2019 Team LeBron beat Team Giannis 178-164… the MVP was Kevin Durant (back when he played for a great team)

In 2018 Team LeBron beat Team Stephen 148-145… the MVP was Lebron James

The trend is super clear.  LeBron wins.  The reason he wins is because he is his own first pick.  His team has a natural advantage… him.

Our prediction for Thursday, February 17th is….  Team LeBron 161 - Team Durant 144

The MVP prop bet is safe with LeBron James.  He will go all out especially since knowing his actual team, the Los Angeles Lakers, are done for this season.  This will be LeBron’s last chance to win a major award and he will take it.  All-Star MVP won’t replace more rings.. But unless he joins a contender at a discount?... He is out of chances to do it with the Lakers.  The next stop for LeBron is scoring the most regular season points of all time over Kareem Abdul Jabaar.  That is 1 ½ seasons away.  He will mollify his feeling switch this award.  

If you would like to put a longshot bet on MVp I would go with Ja Morant.  Ja Morant has announced himself and is just one big moment away from McDonald’s, Gatorade, and  Crypto commercials

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