The 2022 NBA All-Star Game doesn't take place until Sunday, but there is a full weekend of events to monitor in Cleveland. On Friday evening, the annual Rising Stars Challenge takes place, with a new mini-tournament format that features four teams and some of the best young prospects in the basketball world. 

The teams are coached by a quartet of NBA legends (Rick Barry, Gary Payton, Isiah Thomas and James Worthy), with the festivities beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Team Isiah is the betting favorite at +170, with Team Barry at +260, Team Payton at +300, and Team Worthy at +350 to win the tournament.

Before making any 2022 NBA Rising Stars Challenge picks, you'll want to see what elite NBA expert Mike Barner has to say.

A respected NBA Fantasy expert, both season-long and daily, Barner's work has appeared in Sports Illustrated and on Yahoo, RotoWire and KFFL. He's also been featured on ESPN Radio. Barner digs deep into the data, examining team trends and projecting game outcomes.

Barner's expertise has been on full display lately. He is on an amazing 85-67-2 run in against-the-spread picks, returning over $1,100 to $100 players! He also has an incredible feel for NBA All-Star Weekend. In 2021, Barner called the winner of the 3-point Contest, the Dunk Contest and hit both the spread and over-under in the All-Star Game itself. Anybody who followed his picks saw some HUGE returns.

Now he has analyzed the 2022 Rising Stars Challenge from all angles and is delivering his picks for SportsLine. We can tell you Barner is fading Team Isiah, even acknowledging they are "the favorite to win this tournament." Instead, Barner sees value on a plus-money underdog elsewhere.

However, he's identified a critical x-factor he says makes one team a must-back! You ABSOLUTELY need to see it before locking in any picks of your own.

So who wins the 2022 NBA Rising Stars Challenge? And what critical x-factor do you need to know about? ... Join SportsLine right now to get Friday's 2022 NBA Rising Stars Challenge pick, all from the SportsLine expert who nailed his NBA All-Star Weekend picks in 2021!