With Derrick Rose Out, Khris Middleton Is the Presumptive Skills Competition Favorite; Domantas Sabonis Favored Big Man at +500

• Derrick Rose out of the NBA All-Star Skills Competition – who steps in as the favorite?
• Since this event started in 2003, only two ‘bigs’ have won the event
• Read below for our preview and prediction for the Skills Competition’s best bet

There’s a bit of a shakeup at the top of the betting leaderboard for the upcoming Skills Competition at 2020 NBA All-Star Saturday in Chicago.

Yet, with Derrick Rose reportedly now out because of injury, there is still a fully loaded field in the challenge, which features three previous champions – including defending champ Jayson Tatum and Spencer Dinwiddie, who won in 2018.

Let’s see if you should be targeting a big vs. a small, or a fresh face vs. a seasoned vet in this category.

2020 NBA All-Star Skills Competition Odds

Odds from Feb. 5
**Has withdrawn from competition (injury)

Rose Will Not Bloom in Chicago

It would have been a terrific story and a nice moment for Chicago-bred guard Derrick Rose to showcase at All-Star weekend, even if he didn’t make it to the big game on Sunday. He was playing his best stretch of basketball since devastating knee injuries sapped the 2011 league MVP of the star power he once possessed, and the road to relevance has been a bumpy one.

Pistons guard Derrick Rose plans to drop out of the Skills Challenge at NBA All-Star weekend in hometown of Chicago, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2020

While Rose was definitely the best story, it’s surprising he was the favorite. As mentioned, Tatum and Dinwiddie are the last two champions, while Pat Beverley – another Chicago kid, by the way – won this event in 2015.

And not only that, the big men in this field is one of the strongest in terms of owning the requisite ball handling, passing and shooting chops to make their mark.

A Course Refresher

The Skills Competition has changed a few times from its original navigation course and format to the current one that has been in play since 2015. Eight players are separated as either frontcourt (big) or backcourt (small), and they go head-to-head on the obstacle course.

Each winner moves on to the four-player semifinal, before a big ends up against a small in the final.

But in this era of hoops, what constitutes a big? Tatum is the defending champion, and he beat Trae Young in the final in 2019, but he’s far from the definition of a big. He’s a hybrid, at best.

20 years and 351 days old Jayson Tatum with the greatest moment in the history of the NBA skills competition pic.twitter.com/L8uuSi5P6i

— Troll Sports (@TroIISports) February 17, 2019

The obstacle course is simple enough: players start with a ball at one baseline, and dribble through pillars to a passing station, where they need to complete a pass into a cylinder. After completion, they must pick up another ball under the basket and race back to the hoop they started at to complete a layup.

From there, all they need to do is grab their rebound, dribble back down to the other side and make a three-point hoop. The major hangups are always the pass, and then the scramble to make the three.

Who’s the Best Bet?

This roster is stocked with five All-Stars who will be showcasing on Sunday: Khris Middleton, Domantas Sabonis, Tatum, Pascal Siakam and Bam Adebayo. While Middleton is the presumptive favorite, he’s more known for being a deadeye shooter and plus-defender than an all-around player. Thinking Tatum?

Since this event’s inception in 2003, there have been only two players to win multiple times: Steve Nash and Dwyane Wade. Wade is the only one to do it back-to-back.

The reality is that the Skills Competition is a lowly appetizer on the weekend slate. And that’s where I believe the sweet spot lies: Spencer Dinwiddie and Patrick Beverley, both prior champions, will only have this course as their work in Chicago.

Beverley is competitive in any setting, and Dinwiddie told reporters the morning of his 2018 coronation that “I didn’t come here to lose.”

The other strong motivation, however, is that big men have historically come to this event wanting to prove their ball skills are nifty in their super-sized frames.

Backcourt players have dominated this competition, winning all but two events: 2016 went to Karl-Anthony Towns and 2017 to Kristaps Porzingis (and 2019, if you consider Tatum).

The @NBA Skills competition is about to get spicy 🌶️🔥

📽️: @Raptors pic.twitter.com/wnxuFruXBg

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 5, 2020

But these dudes are the hybrids in the new, positionless NBA. I think Domantas Sabonis is the most skilled and traditional definition of a big — right down to his lack of foot speed costing him, as he’ll be up against smooth and swift athletes in the form of Siakam and Adebayo. Both of them possess an unrelenting motor, and only know one speed: overdrive.

Because Siakam has the more deft touch from outside than Bam, I like his value to knock off Beverley. Let’s hope he doesn’t get caught at the passing station.

The pick: Siakam (+600)