Rookie Challenge Rosters Announced. Sports book will have odds on the board for the NBA Rookie Challenge, which takes place on February 12th in Dallas. It is part of the NBA All-Star weekend and is usually a popular game. This year it is likely the Sophomores will be favored again at the sportsbook.Sports book has seen the Sophomores dominate the Rookies recently in this series, winning the last seven. Overall, the Sophomores have won 8 of the 10 games. This year they will have Chicago’s Derrick Rose to lead them. He is joined on the Sophomore team by Memphis’ O.J. Mayo and Marc Gasol, Minnesota’s Kevin Love, Miami’s Michael Beasley, Clippers guard Eric Gordon, New Jersey’s Brook Lopez, New York’s Danilo Gallinari and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook.
The Rookie team has Sacramento’s Tyreke Evans and Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings leading the way. Also on the squad are Sacramento’s Omri Casspi, Chicago’s Taj Gibson, Detroit’s Jonas Jerebko, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Minnesota’s Jonny Flynn, San Antonio’s DeJuan Blair and Oklahoma City’s James Harden.
The Rookie Challenge is held on Friday before the All-Star game on Sunday. It does attract some betting interest at the sports book. From 1994-1998 it was simply know as the Rookie Game and had all rookies. Since 2000 the game has had Sophomores against Rookies. If you are wagering on this game at the sports book there are a few things to remember. The game is not as long as a regular game. The game has two twenty-minute halves.
The Sophomores have dominated this game recently and are almost always favored at the sports book. That doesn’t mean they always cover the spread at the sportsbook though. Last year it was the Sophomore team winning 122-116 but they did not cover the line at the sports book. Kevin Durant set a record in the game, scoring 46 points.
Last year was one of the few times the Rookies have covered the spread at the sports book. They were blown out in 2007 and in 2008 as they lost 155-114 and 136-109. They lost by 10 points in 2006 but were blown away in 2003, 2004 and in 2005 in sportsbook results.
This year the rookies at least have some star power with players like Jennings, Evans and Curry. Overall though, they don’t have the depth of the Sophomores and could be in trouble again this year vs. the sportsbook line.