Betting public all over Team Shaq ahead of 2025 NBA All-Star Game

For the first time, the NBA All-Star Game is moving to a four-game tournament for the 2025 event in San Francisco.

All-Stars from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference were drafted into three teams by NBA on TNT analysts Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley on Feb. 6, and along with the winner of the Rising Stars Challenge — led by fellow analyst Candace Parker as the honorary general manager — will compete in a four-team tournament on Sunday night.

Heading into the All-Star Game, Team Shaq seems to have a clear edge. It features some of the NBA’s biggest names including LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Jayson Tatum and Kevin Durant, and with all that star power, the betting public is all-in.

Team Shaq, which currently has +170 odds to win the tournament according to BetMGM, accounts for 38.5 percent of all bets placed and a whopping 66.1 percent of all money wagered.

Similarly, no one seems to give Team Kenny — headlined by Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson — or Team Candace a chance. Both account for less than 10 percent of the money wagered.

Team Chuck, which features Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama, is the clear No. 2 choice with +185 odds compared to Team Kenny (+450) and Team Candace (+900).

Perhaps Barkley’s squad can give O’Neal’s a run for its money, but anyone other than Team Shaq winning would come as a pretty big surprise.