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How do i play fantasy basketball
ESPN Fantasy Basketball 101 - How to play
Sep 26, 2022
You love basketball. You follow the NBA, root for your favorite team and watched in amazement as Stephen Curry led the Golden State Warriors to another championship.
And you still haven't played fantasy basketball?!
If that sounds a lot like you, this is the perfect season to give it a try -- there is just so much exciting stuff happening around the league. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic can do everything on the court. Luka Doncic and Trae Young have moved into the MVP discussion. Zion Williamson is coming back from a missed season. And superstars LeBron James and Kevin Durant continue to put their teams on their backs like they did 10 years ago.![]()
There has never been a better time to jump right into the fantasy game.
Create or join an ESPN Fantasy Basketball league today and draft your league any time before the first game tips off every Monday. Your league starts fresh with 0-0 records for the new matchup period.
Sign up for free!
Imagine having Curry on your team when he gets on a roll from 3-point land and carries you to victory. Or what it feels like to have LaMelo Ball on your squad when he stuffs the stat sheet in his third NBA season.
These are the moments you remember as a fantasy manager!
In fact, many of those who've played fantasy basketball over the years can recall specific games that certain players had for them. An epic scoring night by James Harden or Damian Lillard, or maybe a timely triple-double by Russell Westbrook.
So fun. So, so fun!
If you're not an expert, don't worry -- we have everything you need to know about how to enter a league and draft a winning team.
Even if you're a total beginner, you will still have the tools to experience the joy of fantasy basketball like millions do every year.
Make the league your own
Every fantasy basketball league is different. While there are basic rules and settings that apply across the board (you will learn about those below), each league takes on its own identity based on settings like roster size, injury spots, stat categories and other specifics.
We encourage you to join or start a league that fits what you're looking for. If you want to be more casual and set your lineups once a week, find a league that uses weekly lineup changes. If you're a little bit more diehard with all this and want to be able to add and drop players and craft new lineups on a daily basis, that's the type of league you should enter.
The bottom line is to do what's fun for you. Find a league that keeps you tuning in to watch your players every night.
With that in mind, we've put together ESPN Fantasy Basketball 101 to give you an overview of how to get started, how to prepare for your draft and how to play during the season.
Now it's time for you to sign up and join the fun!
Getting startedESPN Fantasy Basketball FAQ
Click here for a quick reference for basic game-related questions.
How to sign up on the ESPN Fantasy app
Were you invited to an ESPN Fantasy Basketball league? Do you want to create your own as a League Manager? We have complete instructions for you right here.
How to sign up online
Whether you were invited to join an already-existing league or want to create your own as a League Manager, you'll find everything you need to do so right here.
League settings
If you created your own league, you'll need to make sure all of your league's rules and settings -- including roster size, scoring, regular-season schedules and playoff schedules -- are to your liking. We have all of the details of how to do that right here. Note: This season
You've signed up, now what?
Check out your league and team pages
It's time to learn more about your league and team pages, so you know where everything is.
We've got you covered with a detailed tour right here.
Know your rules
This might seem incredibly basic, but even veteran fantasy basketball players often assume they know their league rules even when they don't. The result of overlooking a rule can be costly, so be sure you know the rules before your draft.
Go to your fantasy basketball league page, click on League, then Settings. Here, you'll be able to find all the rules that are in place for your league this season. This includes roster construction, scoring, schedule, playoff structure and more.
Take the time to carefully go over every section. To make sure you understand the thinking behind each rule, check out our League Settings overview.
Draft prep
A good draft will put you in position to have a successful season, and taking time to prepare beforehand is key. That includes formulating strategies and printing out rankings that reflect your league's scoring format.
Don't worry, we have you covered with customized expert rankings and draft strategies in the ESPN Fantasy Basketball draft kit.
Autodraft prep
If you don't plan to take part in a live draft, that's OK. Our system will automatically draft for you.
Still, you have the option of guiding how our system will draft your team. Go to your Team page and click "Edit Autopick Strategy." Here, you can decide which player positions you'd like to pick in which parts of the draft and how many players at each position you want to select overall.
Mock drafts
Mock drafts are simply practice drafts that don't count for anything. It's a terrific way to get used to the ESPN draft software, make sure you know how everything works and test out different strategies. For example, that might mean drafting a point guard in the first round versus drafting a small forward in Round 1 and waiting on a point guard until the fourth round.
These practice drafts also let you see which players are going higher than expected and which are routinely slipping down a round or two (or more).
This is extremely useful knowledge that you can take with you in your real draft and use to your advantage, avoiding those "sliding" players until later rounds when you have a good idea that they will still be available.
For an overview of how everything in the ESPN draft room works, click on this link.
The draft
Draft day is the most exciting day of the season, because it's when your team goes from a plan to a reality. It's when you finally get the chance to assemble the group of players you get to root for all season. Of course, you can always add and drop players throughout the year, but the draft is still the most fundamental part of your roster and you want to make sure you don't miss on your top players.
If you have prepared for your draft by reading up on players and strategies, and by participating in several mock drafts, you're on the path to success. Believe in your hunches and don't look back.
To make everything go as smoothly as possible, be sure to follow these handy rules.
The season is starting, let the fun begin!
Trading
In most leagues, there are at least a few managers who enjoy the art of the deal. If you're one of those people, trading is going to be one of the most fun aspects of fantasy basketball. When done well, it's a great opportunity to improve your roster while unloading someone you perhaps no longer want or need.
There are several important factors to keep in mind. You must look at the roster of the team you're trading with and understand which, if any players, that manager might be willing to part with. For example, it'd be unwise to make a trade offer for a point guard on a team that is battling injuries and down to one healthy point guard. Also, while you may never want to send your best trade offer with your first proposal, be careful not to offer up too little. That can be offensive to the other manager and can lead to that person not only declining your offer but ending all future trade talks with you.
In-season strategies
Beyond trading, there are other factors to consider during the season like how to manage your games played in roto leagues, how to approach head-to-head playoffs, and how best to work the waiver wire. Check out the in-season strategies section of our draft kit.
Fantasy basketball etiquette
Every few years, no matter what type of league you're in, you'll run into someone who causes problems. Sometimes it name-calling on the message board and being a bully. Other times it is a constant stream of wild trade offers and questionable transactions. Whether you are in a hyper-competitive league or just trying to have some casual fun, you want to avoid being this way or having others in your league who conduct themselves like this.
Generally speaking, that just means following the golden rule: Treat others the way you'd want to be treated in your league.
How to sign up on ESPN Fantasy app
Chris Elise/NBAE via Getty Images
Sep 26, 2022
Get the ESPN Fantasy Sports app
Go to the Google Play Store or the App Store, search for ESPN Fantasy Sports, and install the ESPN Fantasy Sports app. Then sign in or create an ESPN account, if you are a first-time user.
Click on the basketball icon in the top row to access ESPN Fantasy Basketball via the app.
How to join a public league
If you don't have enough people to create your own league, or if you just want to join a random league, click the orange "GET A TEAM" button to find a public league that fits your desires.
For detailed explanations of each setting (number of teams, scoring, draft, etc.), click here.
How to start your own league as a commissioner/league manager
Click the orange "CREATE LEAGUE" button, then choose the settings you want to use in your league. In order to create your league, you'll need to choose your basic settings, including League Name, Number of Teams, Scoring Type and Draft Type. Don't worry about being perfect with these settings -- you can change any and all of them all the way up until the league draft.
For a detailed look at all of the basic and advanced settings, click here.
Invite friends
Once you've created a league, you can invite your friends via Twitter, Facebook messenger, email or text message. You can also copy the invitation link to send it to them in any other manner you choose.
While it's best to invite the other owners as soon as possible, you can always create your league now and invite participants at a later date.
Or, you can provide the invitation link to active members of your league and encourage them to invite friends or family members who might be interested in playing.
League manager tools
As commissioner/league manager, it's your responsibility to make sure all of your basic and advanced settings are done correctly. That can be done by tapping the three-bar menu button on the top left, then selecting "League Manager Tools."
Once there, you can edit the basic draft settings and add/remove owners as needed.
In order to edit advanced settings for your league (including scoring and rosters), you'll need to visit your league web page on ESPN Fantasy Basketball.
For a detailed look at all of the basic and advanced settings, click here.
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3 Tips for Winning Daily Fantasy Basketball
Daily fantasy sports pro player Peter "DraftCheat" Christensen gives 3 top tips for beginners on how to start winning at daily fantasy basketball.
Before we get into the NBA Daily Fantasy winning strategies, let me tell you how interesting and exciting it all is. Two years ago, I would have had to work hard to name 30 NBA players. Now I can shoot out the roster of every NBA team, and now it's my favorite fantasy sport. The feeling of fighting for the big prize in the GPP, when you have Stephen Curry in your roster, who literally starts pouring three-pointers and dragging you to victory, is simply indescribable. Add to this the significant edge that can be gained in daily fantasy basketball (if you know what you're doing), and you have a recipe for a very interesting and profitable activity. Or rather: an activity that becomes profitable.
1. Trust the bookies
Have you ever been to Las Vegas? Have you been to these huge, posh casinos? These monsters were built by smart people who knew what they were doing. One of the first steps to success in NBA daily fantasy (and even fantasy sports in general) is checking NBA quotes at bookmakers. You should aim for games with high Total Over and Total Under, which are predicted to be even games. If you have starters on your roster from a game that is far from being played by the end of the match, it is much more likely that your guys will play in those minutes.
If one team is beaten by another, you will often see starters going to the bench early to rest for the next game. Games predicted by the bookmaker to have a high total are likely to score more fantasy points as this is based on the teams' pace of play. High Total games tend to not only earn more points for your players, but also more rebounds, assists, blocks and steals, and more possession time. Finally, in a tied game there is always the potential to get bonus minutes in overtime.
Owning players who have played in overtime can be a big advantage in big-field tournaments in the NBA's Daily Fantasy.
2. Minutes are everything
If you've never played Daily Fantasy Basketball, one lesson you'll quickly learn is that you should chase minutes. Given the nature of basketball, and the fact that only 5 people from each team can be on the court at a time, fantasy points are earned in almost every possession, be it through baskets, assists, rebounds, blocks or steals. This means that in daily fantasy basketball you need a roster of players who are likely to be on the court for the majority of the game. It can be hard to predict at times, but in general you should target starters in games that are predicted to be even, and players from teams that have few players left. Perhaps this statement sounds strange to those who do not follow the NBA closely. But as the season progresses, teams inevitably pick up injuries and suspensions, and there's often a team or two that don't have a lot of players available to play at the moment.
When the team drops to 8 or 9healthy players, you can almost be sure that regardless of the score, the starters in this game will get a lot of minutes. Choose such players and reap the rewards.
3. Who owns the information owns the world
One of the most important aspects of Daily Fantasy Basketball, which is unique in the NBA, is the need to be at the computer until the start of the competition. Unlike other sports, in NBA daily fantasy, a lot of important information pops up much more often before the game starts. And if you play often enough, there will be times when you will frantically press the buttons, as a couple of your guys unexpectedly dropped out of the game a few minutes before the lineups closed. Even worse, if you ignore this news and end up drafting a player who will serve the entire game. You need to be vigilant and follow all NBA news on news sites and related sources on Twitter. Although it may sound complicated, if you know where to look and improve your information gathering process, it can really be a huge advantage in daily fantasy basketball and in the NBA in particular, as you are less likely to have zeros in their roasters.
Conclusion
There is much more to building winning rosters in Daily Fantasy Basketball. But the three points listed above are critical for those who are just starting out. Follow them and you will build a solid base to which you can add other profitable strategies and tools, such as individual matchup analysis. For starters, build a roster of high-scoring, tied-match players who are likely to play many minutes, and try to avoid dead players. This is already half the battle. The rest will come with time and experience. Just start playing daily fantasy basketball.
Good luck!
Read more: Sites where you can play NBA fantasy
Why am I playing fantasy on ESPN? - World of Fantasy Basketball
Intro (you can skip it if you're lazy)
Many times in my articles and speeches, I have said that the Yahoo engine is the best option for a dreamer and all other engines are simply not worth using. I had to play on other engines in the past years.
NBAcom, PASPN and the same ESPN. I swore off playing on any other engines except Yahoo. But in vain. Twelve years ago, on the NBAru forum, I had the signature "Never say never." Time passed, other thoughts and signatures appeared. And the first signature, the meaning of which concerns many issues, remains true.
Before the start of this season, I was going to play in four leagues: EDL, SLS, BUGAY'7wl, AEL. As a last resort, the fifth league was to be AEL-2. And all these leagues were planned, of course, on the Yahoo engine. As a result, I play in seven leagues, and two of them are on ESPN. How did it happen?
It all started with Ansverman - a man known for a large number of leagues. He is an EDL commissioner and one of his ideas was to introduce a two-week matchup into the playoff setup. Indeed, everyone knows the probabilistic nature of shoot-out games in a fantasy game. These games take place at the end of the NBA season and are characterized by unpredictable player performance.
The top players on some teams are gaining strength before the NBA PO and don't play at all, while the permanent residents of the pool put out incredible statistical performances. Plus, the brevity of the matchup in the software makes the result more random and unreliable. One of the interesting partial solutions to the problem was offered by the ESPN engine - a two-week matchup in software. Ansverman wanted to include it in the EDL, but Yahoo does not provide such a setting. As a result, Ansverman cursed the Yahoo engine a lot and removed software from the EDL altogether, which adversely affected the league. But most importantly, this is the first time I've heard that some engine gives some useful customization that Yahoo doesn't have. It used to be said about PASPN that it allows you to build a dynasty from season to season, in terms of player cost and using many of the player management rules in the NBA. But I tried to play there. With all the pluses, this is a serious departure from fantasy, almost a different game.
And ESPN offers a progressive setting just for the classic fantasy. By the way, when I tried to play on ESPN before, it was an “only points” league, also “not that fantasy”, so I naturally didn’t like it. Now the situation has changed, ESPN organizes classic fantasy games quite well.
Knowing the new cutting edge setup on ESPN didn't move me to play there. All off-season, I was solving another question: how many AEL leagues should I play in? Last season, there were 12 applicants who did not want to be divided into two leagues. The system was not built. Then we played in one league for 12 participants, with the expectation that in the new season only the best 8 will get into the AEL. So four had to fall off. Eight of the best have been identified, but where are the rest? Do all the same the second league? With transitions or not? Do you play it yourself? Recruiting 16 willing participants for two leagues so that they are ready for transitions between leagues at the end of the seasons is not so simple.
Not in the mood to do it. Nerves, the years are not the same. At the same time, it is quite possible to fill two leagues with active volunteers, non-unique, capable of playing at least three leagues at the same time with such settings. I myself am one of those. But does it make sense? And then Ansverman shows up again and says that if I created a league on ESPN, then new members who do not play on Yahoo would join there. Why not try? Moreover, to study the new engine, so as not to overgrow with moss at all. So I created a league on ESPN with AEL settings. In the meantime, people who didn't get into AEL-1 and didn't play on ESPN signed up for AEL-3, on Yahoo. As a result, three AEL leagues came out unpredictably, two on Yahoo and one on ESPN. And I got 6 leagues.
It would seem that the season has begun, the number of leagues is determined. But new acquaintances playing on ESPN invited me to one of their leagues, where the participant dropped out. That's how I got 7 leagues, two of which are on ESPN.
So, why did this happen, what good did I find in the new engine?
ESPN Engine Pros
As I said earlier, the ability to set two-week fights in the software. To enable this option, in the "Weeks per Playoff Matchup" setting, select the value "2 weeks per round". In the AEL league for 8 participants, it is convenient to make 4 teams enter the PO and go through both of its rounds in 4 weeks. In a long personal meeting, they decided who was stronger. This, of course, does not completely solve the problem of “sluggish fantasy software”, but makes the results more reasonable.
The ESPN engine opens a season earlier than Yahoo. For those who are in a state of rest from fantasy until the middle, or even until the end of September, this does not matter. I belong to the category of fantasy people who are looking forward to the start of the new season. In the last days of August, I check daily to see if leagues are open on Yahoo. Moreover, in the EDL league, drafts are already underway in August.
So in September there is already a desire to make the first moves, to correct the mistakes of the draft. Even to those who don't play in a league with an early draft, information that comes out early can be important and welcome. ESPN, with an early opening, satisfies the primary informational hunger of active fantasists.
Among the information appearing on the engine, a special place is occupied by "Projections" - predictive statistical indicators of players compiled by the site's specialists. Fantasists often struggle with the universal formula for the utility of players, forgetting that it should be applied not to last year's statistical indicators, but to expected ones. Modeling predictive statistics yourself for each player is extremely troublesome. You can use paid resources, such as the notorious BM, but everything here is free. And the Yahoo engine uses projections very carefully, and already during the season.
After the opening of the season on the engine, usually everyone looks at what rating this or that player has.
I like ratings. Different, all. The rating is a ready-made guideline for the order of choice in the draft. Of course, one should not take any rating as the ultimate truth. Among fantasists, it is customary to scold ratings. It `s naturally. Scolding LeBron, as if towering over him, at least mentally. By swearing at the ratings, you rise above all the site's analysts (ESPN, Yahoo or whatever) and above all other fantasy people. And you don’t even have to prove something with personal victories. The principle "Oh Pug, know she is strong, that she barks at the elephant" applies. I like ratings. And the more of them, the better. You can compare, analyze the difference, find the average, or otherwise form your rating. So, the ratings of Yahoo and ESPN differ. Not so globally that Wiggins was number 1 on one of the engines. But still, there is a difference. And both sites are respected, so there is something to think about, there is something to compare.
In continuation of this paragraph.
Recently, online drafts have become more commonplace. The engines analyze all the drafts going through and helpfully offer an average, which is a good guideline for newbies. By the end of October, these numbers are such that you can draft them without thinking about anything at all and without preparing at all. That's why I started liking the draft auction. He's less predictable. Although now there are average and forecast prices from the engine at auction prices. However, the real prices depend on the course of the draft and the tactics of the participants. But the main thing is that these prices differ on the engines! When drafting auctions at the same settings on Yahoo and ESPN, I took into account which players were given a lower forecast (and boldly traded for these players), and which ones were higher (and bypassed them). And it wasn't the same players on different engines.
The ESPN site, I don't know how to put it, "easier." It loads faster, there are no such heavy components that slow down the work.
Previously, the NBA sinned this. I stopped going there. Now it's Yahoo's turn. It is clear that the authors are counting on the increasingly accelerating Internet in developed countries and are trying to interest the client as much as possible with beautiful graphics. But for me, those days are long gone when a new game is described by rave reviews like "Everything is drawn in detail, everything is like the real thing." In any toy, playability and functionality are important. Heroes of Magic and Might 3 remains a model game for me. Everything that happened before and after is not so interesting. And I still play it with pleasure. As for the design of the fantasy engine, it certainly wasn't perfect twelve years ago. Rearranging the players in the roster by selecting a position from the drop-down list, then you press the confirm button and it turns out that two players were mistakenly sent to the same position by you, and all over again. Over time, the procedure for transferring the player was facilitated, and it became good.
But now all the innovations only make the site heavier. In contrast, ESPN's design looks like the old Yahoo design, minus the mess.
What a fantasy engine! Even the Scores / Schedule tab on the site, and when you go to the box score of a particular match, it loads the video. At home I'm still fine, but at work it even hangs right. Either the speed of the Internet is limited, or the farwall fights off any encroachments from the site, but the fact remains that it is loaded reluctantly. Recently, the Daily Fantasy ads have been getting more and more. It's also on ESPN, but again, not as intrusive.
The simplicity of displaying information, I repeat, does not affect its quality. Even more than that, in some cases, ESPN has seen a great deal of thoughtfulness in the display.
An additional "+/-" column has been added to the Players and My Team tabs. The value there shows how much the percentage of owners of this player has changed. A cheap and effective replacement for the Research function, while retaining these functions for the need for deeper analysis.
Similarly, when watching friendly, alien or free players, you can see news - the latest available news on the player, but in one short line. Yahoo highlights when there is fresh news for a player. But usually, there is a lot of news and all of them are too lazy to read. Sometimes someone is interesting, and you start to select everything according to him. And so, to shortly and quickly, for all players at once, and it doesn’t matter if the news is old or new, but the latest one is available, and everything is in front of your eyes at once on one page, this is convenient.
Another trick for viewing players is in the Player tab on ESPN. You can select and sort those who play on a specific day. Why is this needed? It's no secret that one of the reasons for moves can sometimes be cheating human games. Even if this is not a specific goal, it can still be a decisive factor for the move. Why do you need a pool player who plays on the same day as most players on your roster? On Yahoo you can see who has matches on the next day, you can also look at the calendar of all players for the week.
But if you start sorting, then there will be porridge. On ESPN, you can safely select any day, remove non-players on it, and then sort by any column.
On Yahoo, the current account change can be viewed on StatTracker. I remember the times when it was paid, almost no one used it and everyone either counted the account change manually, or waited for noon when the stats were updated in the main part of the engine. Now StatTracker is free and everything seems to be fine. But on ESPN, the Scoreboard tab lets you see the current score update across all of the league's matchups on one page.
You can also look in more detail for your matchup.
At the same time, there is also Launch FantasyCast - an analogue of StatTracker, with no less, even greater functions. And it loads faster.
When I created the league, I did not find the setting for who makes the decision on the trade. Yahoo has this setting: either the commissioner decides, or the "league veto" rule is used.
At one time, I promoted the “league veto” rule, for which I was scolded by everyone. But really, is a commission agent always able to be both impartial and competent enough to evaluate any trade? I, as a commission agent, simply would not even want to spend such a responsibility on myself. There were cases when strong, authoritative managers had absolutely opposite opinion on any trade. And no matter what decision you, as a commission agent, would make, you would remain guilty. So I was upset when I didn't find "league veto" on ESPN. However, it turned out that the engine gives the commission agent the right to decide in each specific case whether he is ready to take the decision on this trade on himself, or he gives this trade at the mercy of the league. That is, if the commission agent is sure that the trade is exactly equal, then he can easily conduct it himself. If he is sure that the trade is unequal, he can reject the trade himself. And if he doubts, then press one button, and the trade will go to the vote of the league.
It seems nothing new, on Yahoo the commission agent can also manually carry out any manipulation with the lineups. Or arrange a golosilku on the forum. But it will look like an interference with the compositions, like an artificial adjustment to the engine. And ESPN does it naturally. Indeed, it's been a long time since I've seen accepted unequal trades in my leagues. A league veto has one unpleasant feature - the loss of time. By accepting good trades quickly, we save time. By submitting incomprehensible trades to a vote, we do not allow an act of voluntarism and deceit to be committed.
Another plus regarding exchanges. True, subjective, and perhaps controversial. I'm generally wary of exchanges. But many say they love them. However, any fantasist, with an honest answer to the question of when there were more trades, will say that in the first season, when everyone was young and inexperienced, there were a lot of trades. For some reason, in the first year or two of the game, everyone is somehow more frivolous towards the players, they think less, it is easier to agree to trades.
As it were, youth is characterized by significant and thoughtless actions. With age, everyone becomes smarter, tighter, meaner. This applies not only to age, as such, but also to fantasy. It is not uncommon for leagues where there is not a single trade at all during the season. There are talks, many express a desire to trade (as a hidden desire to hurt someone), but the negotiations do not bring results. So, I don't know what the experience of those I first encountered on the ESPN engine was, but it turned out that a bunch of trades went through at once. That is, new people, new experience, more opportunities for trading and an interesting game.
Well, from the little things, I will note the presence of a chat on the engine. This is also a debatable advantage. It would be more useful for a forum when all communication is within itself. And so that everything written is preserved, increasing a certain intellectual capital of the forum. Therefore, chat, even within the forum, impoverishes the forum itself a little.
A bunch of beautiful statements and smart thoughts can disappear in the chat and no one will see them, except for those who were in the chat at a given time. However, the presence of a chat facilitates the process of negotiating trades, making other operational negotiations. Therefore, those new acquaintances that I have made also communicate in Skype chat, which has its pluses and minuses.
Speaking of cons.
Cons of the engine ESPN.
One of the factors that prompted me to write the article is the statement that the ESPN engine is inconvenient.
Perhaps this is out of habit. I quickly managed to figure out the engine. If you remember what was unusual, then I note that in the league on ESPN I am not a commission agent, but a "League Manager", abbreviated as LM (almost like cigarettes). Therefore, I did not immediately find the “LM Tools” tab.
But this, of course, is a trifle.
The main, and the only serious disadvantage of ESPN, like any other engine, is the lack of history.
