Team LeBron vs Team Durant NBA All Star Game Picks, Odds, Predictions 3/7/21

Team Durant and Team LeBron meet Sunday in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game at the State Farm Arena.

Team Durant will be coached by Doc Rivers and actually won’t have Kevin Durant due to injury. However, the starting five of Team Durant features Kyrie Irving, Joel Embiid, Kawhi Leonard, Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum. The bench of Team Durant includes James Harden, Zion Williamson, Zach LaVine and Julius Randle. Mike Conley Jr. was a late replacement, and it’s his first ever All-Star appearance. Team Durant has good size and length, and there’s potential for solid defensive effort, but it’s an Allstar game after all, so who knows if they’ll get after it. The issue here is Team Durant does lack elite level scoring and players who can create their own shots. You have to wonder if Team Durant can keep up offensively. 

Team LeBron is coached by Quin Snyder and has a starting five of LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic. You can argue this is the best starting five in NBA all star history, as it includes top-10 players across the board. If that wasn’t enough, Team LeBron has Damian Lillard, Ben Simmons, Chris Paul and Paul George coming off the bench. Team LeBron is absolutely loaded with elite level scoring and players who can takeover for long stretches. There’s six or seven players on Team LeBron who can just will their team to victory and dominate in what will be a crucial fourth quarter. It’s amazing how LeBron was able to snag all of these players in the draft.

Usually I grab the points in all star games or meaningless exhibitions, as both teams are extremely talented and neither side is killing themselves to win. It’s a celebration and there’s not a ton of defense being played, at least until the fourth quarter. I often grab the points and hope for the best in a contest that shouldn’t be bet heavily. However, Team LeBron is absolutely stacked and could comfortably beat Team Durant if they really wanted to. We should expect a tight game through three quarters, but there’s no reason for Team LeBron not to win this game given all of the top tier players on its roster.

I’m laying the chalk with Team LeBron.