The Western Conference has won the NBA All-Star Game 11 times over the last 17 years. The West is favored to pick up another win this Sunday night in New Orleans.
The Western Conference All-Stars are going off as 5-point favorites in Sunday's game at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The team has won five of the last six NBA All-Star Games, but only one of those wins (last year's 196-173 victory) came by more than five points.
Eight of the top 11 scorers in the NBA will be playing for the West, including four of the top five. Russell Westbrook leads the league in scoring with 31.1 points per game and is the favorite to win the game's MVP award at +350.
James Harden (+700 to win MVP), DeMarcus Cousins (+5500), and Anthony Davis (+650) are all also in the top five in scoring, and this group doesn't even include the four Golden State Warriors of Stephen Curry (+600), Kevin Durant (+700), Klay Thompson (+4500), and Draymond Green (+5500) that head coach Steve Kerr has indicated he will start as one unit.
When a conference is so loaded that a player of Damian Lillard's caliber can get snubbed from even being on the team, that's a pretty good indicator of just how strong and deep the West squad is this year.
Of course, there will also be plenty of exceptional talent on the Eastern Conference's side. Isaiah Thomas (+1500) ranks second in the NBA in scoring with 29.9 points per game, and DeMar DeRozan (+2800) ranks sixth with 27.3 points per game.
The East has won the All-Star Game just four times since 2006, and three of those wins saw the MVP award handed to a Cleveland Cavalier. LeBron James (+700) won the award in 2006 and 2008, and Kyrie Irving (+750) won it in 2014.
Sunday night's total is set at 348.5 points. Last season's game soared to 369 points, crushing the previous all-time high in an All-Star game of 321. The game had 321 points in 2015 and 318 points in 2014.
Other players who could get into the mix for the MVP award on Sunday include Kawhi Leonard (+1500) in the West, and Giannis Antetokounmpo (+1100), Jimmy Butler (+2200), John Wall (+4500), and Paul George (+2500) in the East.
Westbrook has won the award in each of the last two seasons, scoring 31 points in 2016 and 41 points in 2015.