2022 NBA Skills Challenge Online Betting

2022 NBA Skills Challenge Betting

Change is the only constant during NBA All-Star Weekend. We have seen multiple format changes to the NBA All-Star Game, the Rising Stars Challenge, and other events, so it’s only natural that we saw a major change to the Skills Challenge. Instead of six or eight individuals competing against each other for the award, we will see three teams of three players looking to win the Skills Challenge in 2022.

When: Saturday, February 19, 2022, 8 p.m. ET

Where: Rocket Mortgage Field House, Cleveland, Ohio

Network Coverage: TNT and TBS

Odds: Team LeBron -5.5, 321.5

2022 Taco Bell Skills Challenge Participants

Team Rooks: Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham, Josh Giddey

Team Cavs: Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley

Team Antetokounmpos: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Alex Antetokounmpo, Thanasis Antetokounmpo

2022 Taco Bell Skills Challenge Preview

It’s rare to see a two-time NBA MVP take part in the Skills Challenge, but Giannis Antetokounmpo is throwing his hat in the ring alongside his brothers in this new take on a mainstay of All-Star Weekend. Antetokounmpo is known as the Greek Freak for a reason. He was the NBA Most Improved Player in 2017, the league MVP in 2019 and 2020, and he led the Milwaukee Bucks to their first NBA title in 50 years and was named Finals MVP last summer.

Older brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo hasn’t been too impressive in his professional basketball career. He only played two games in the NBA from 2013 to 2019, and he has been a seldom-used bench player for the Bucks over the last three years. He has made just 15.7% of his threes in his NBA career, so that won’t be great for the shooting aspects of this competition. Alex Antetokounmpo was signed by Raptors 905 last October, and he has yet to play in the NBA. That will likely make the Antetokounmpos the biggest underdog although Giannis Antetokounmpo is the best player in this event.

Team Cavs will probably be an odds-on favorite due to their nascent chemistry from playing together, as well as having a home crowd advantage. Darius Garland has had a breakout year with Cleveland, and he was selected to his first All-Star Game. Jarrett Allen was a replacement pick for the All-Star Game due to injury, and Evan Mobley is a huge favorite to be named NBA Rookie of the Year.

Garland, Allen, and Mobley are all young, talented players that are still looking to make their mark on the league. They are the three leading scorers on the Cavaliers with Collin Sexton injured, and Garland is averaging 8.0 APG while Allen and Mobley have combined to average 19.1 RPG.

Team Rooks has the other two top contenders to be named NBA Rookie of the Year aside from Evan Mobley. No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham has been impressive in leading Detroit, and Scottie Barnes was the most talented player to come out of FSU in the Leonard Hamilton era. Barnes is a physical specimen that will give the rookies a chance to challenge for the win in this competition, but Josh Giddey is not a very effective big man although he has stuffed the stat sheet with Oklahoma City.

2022 Taco Bell Skills Challenge Format

There will be four rounds in this year’s Skills Challenge. These rounds will test players’ shooting, passing, and dribbling skills, and the two teams with the most points in the first three rounds will square off head-to-head in the final round.

The first round will highlight shooting with each player taking shots from five different places on the court over the span of 30 seconds. The second round will see players look to connect on passes through and around oversized moving targets, and the third round will be a relay race that will test five different skills.

The final round is a little gimmicky as the skills that were previously on display go out the window. The two teams that make the final will simply try to make a half-court shot as fast as possible. There is nothing else to this round other than chucking up shots from the middle of the court.

Taco Bell Skills Challenge Winners (2003)

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