Vegas favors James White to win dunk contest; more NBA All-Star odds
James White believes he's the favorite in the dunk contest; Las Vegas agrees. (Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
By Ben Eagle
It's safe to say James White is no longer under the radar. According to the betting website Bovada.lv, White enters the 2013 Slam Dunk Contest as the 5/4 favorite, followed by Terrence Rose (7/2) and Gerald Green (4/1). Reigning champ Jeremy Evans is a longshot at 8/1.
White, a journeyman averaging 8.6 minutes for the Knicks this season, is confident he has what it takes to win the dunk contest. "I have about five dunks where I’m absolutely certain that I will get a 50 on those," he told SLAM's Kicks blog. "So it’s just a matter of when to use which of those dunks." Given what we've seen from him already, he should be cocky.
Here are some of the other All-Star Weekend favorites (for entertainment purposes only), as determined by Bovada:
• Stephen Curry and Steve Novak enter the three-point contest as co-favorites at 5/2, while Paul George plays the role of longshot (15/2) despite ranking 11th in the NBA in three-pointers made.
• In the All-Star Celebrity Game, Olympic superstar Usain Bolt (4/1) is the odds-on favorite to take home MVP over the likes of Kevin Hart and Common (both at 9/2). Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and ESPN personality Ryen Russillo are longshots at 15/1.
• The odds favor presumptive Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard (13/2) for MVP in the Rising Stars Challenge over players such as Kyrie Irving (7/1), Kenneth Faried (8/1) and Kemba Walker (9/1). But the lack of scorers on Team Chuck would seem to favor a longshot like Bradley Beal (18/1) or Brandon Knight (14/1) in what's certain to be a high-scoring affair.
