Sean Gardner/Getty Images. Pictured: Zion Williamson.
Zion Williamson will get his first career NBA All-Star Game start on Sunday when he replaces Joel Embiid on Team Durant.
The league announced Embiid and teammate Ben Simmons will miss the game as the 76ers teammates go through contract tracing after getting a haircut from a barber with COVID.
The league announced Williamson will be the starter in his All-Star Game debut.
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The Pelicans forward is scoring 25.6 points per game to go along with 7.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists. His 26.87 PER ranks fourth in the NBA.
Before the announcement, Williamson’s point total prop was set at 13.5, but now at DraftKings it’s up to 20.5. That number is 16.5 at PointsBet. He’s 9-1 to score the first point of the game at BetMGM. He’s 14-1 to win the All-Star Game MVP at DraftKings. He could’ve been had at 33-1 prior to Sunday’s news. That was Action Network NBA staff writer Brandon Anderson’s best bet.
Embiid was slated to start the game and was the sixth-most bet player in terms of amount of bets and amount of money wagered for MVP of the game at BetMGM.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has taken the most money for MVP bets with 20% of the handle. He trails LeBron James and Luka Doncic in total MVP bets.
Team LeBron is the 4-point favorite over Team Durant on Sunday with a total of 317. LeBron’s first pick was Antetokounmpo, who is tied with James as the 5-1 favorite to win MVP of the game.