Imagine managing a basketball “team” with big-shot players like LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Giannis Antetokounmpo and profiting from their performances. That’s what fantasy basketball is all about. You “draft” these players in your team and score points based on their performances.
I have written an all-inclusive guide on everything you need to know about DFS basketball. This includes a brief overview of how it works, the best DFS basketball features to use, and strategies to implement while participating in contests.
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I thought I’d start this guide by giving a brief yet comprehensive breakdown of how fantasy basketball works, which I feel would come in handy, especially if you’re new to fantasy basketball betting.
So, what exactly is fantasy basketball? To put it as simply as I can, it’s basically when an individual picks a selection of different players to make their “team” and goes against another individual’s “team” in an attempt to win. Still in the dark? Allow me to explain a little more.
You assemble a team with your preferred real-life basketball athletes. Then, your team goes against other people’s teams based on the athletes’ real-world statistics. If your team beats your opponent, you win that particular week’s matchup.
You’ll continue competing with other opponents’ teams to determine who scores the most points. If the person endures all the weekly matchups of the season, you can proceed to the playoffs and potentially win.
While you’re competing, you can make amendments to your team. This includes adding and dropping athletes from your team based on their real-life stats.
So, how does the scoring work in fantasy basketball? There are two formats most daily fantasy sports platforms use for this fantasy sport:
If you’re familiar with fantasy football, then this scoring may ring a bell.
With this scoring format, you go against another person’s team every week. The individual whose team has the most overall points based on the athletes’ real-life stats wins the matchup. Typically, there are six scoring categories in this format:
When it comes to this scoring format, you’ll still compete with another person’s team. However, with this scoring format, the team with the most points per category wins the matchup. There are nine categories in this format:
There are other scoring formats you might come across. They include:
If you’re like me, then your mind might have gone straight to rotisserie chicken. Well, this scoring format doesn’t involve that delicious chicken at all.
With this scoring format, you get to compile your team’s stats in each category.
Then, your team is ranked against other participant’s teams in each of the league’s categories. So, the higher you rank in every category, the more points you get, and the higher you rank in the fantasy basketball league.
If facing an opponent’s team doesn’t tickle your fancy, you can opt for this scoring format. So, your team’s points in each category are added each week.
Then, the team with the most points at the end of the season becomes the champion. The scoring categories in this format include:
Whew! That was quite a breakdown. But I hope you now have an idea of how fantasy basketball works. To sum it all up, here's a summary of these scoring systems.
| DFS Basketball Scoring System | Details |
|---|---|
| Head-to-Head Scoring |
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| Head-to-Head Nine-Category Scoring |
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| Rotisserie | Players compete in each category and are ranked based on performance. Higher ranks in each category lead to higher overall league rankings. |
| Seasonal Points |
|
Now that you know how this fantasy sport works. Let’s look at the features that come in handy when participating in NBA DFS contests.
One of my go-to features when it comes to NBA daily fantasy sports is a lineup optimizer. So, what is this DFS lineup optimizer I’m all hyped up about?
This is basically a feature (some would call it a tool) that uses statistics to put together a lineup that has the highest possible chance of success in DFS basketball contests.
There are tons of free lineup optimizers out there, promising heaven and earth (well, not literally). Some even claim to have been specially tailored for a particular daily fantasy platform, such as DraftKings (you can go ahead and read our DraftKings daily fantasy review).
However, it’s important to choose an NBA DFS lineup optimizer that suits your needs and preferences. I personally would choose one that works well with the daily fantasy sports site I’m playing on.
This is another vital feature that I feel many overlook when it comes to DFS basketball. The league settings section enables you to know everything there is to know about a particular DFS basketball league. This includes the draft settings, the roster size, the scoring format, player trade limits, the playoff schedule, and so on.
These are critical details you have to know before drafting your team to participate in the league, and they are all the more reason to make use of the league settings.
This is another tool that can help you gain an edge over your opponents in fantasy basketball contests. So, what exactly is a DFS ownership projections? Many daily fantasy sports fans term it as a feature that unearths hidden gems when it comes to picks for your lineup.
It does this by providing one with an idea of which athletes will be picked by most participants, in this case, a DFS basketball contest. That way, you will find out which athletes aren’t the top choice for participants in the contest. Then, you can do your research and see which of these overlooked players can boost your lineup.
Like the DFS lineup optimizer, there are many NBA DFS ownership projections out there. Again, there are some that claim to have been specially tailored for particular DFS sites, like FanDuel (you can go ahead and read our FanDuel daily fantasy review).
This means you have to be extra careful when choosing one, especially if you’re going for the free ones.
In the next section of this guide, I’ll be taking you through some tips for playing DFS basketball that I’ve learned along the way.
I cannot preach this enough. It’s super important to take your time when drafting your fantasy basketball team. Why? You may ask. For starters, you need time to gather the relevant statistics to choose your athletes. I mean, daily fantasy sports isn’t called a game of skill for no reason. You also need time to use features like the DFS lineup optimizer, which will optimize your drafting process. Sure, these tools simplify the process. However, you still cannot use it all willy-nilly and expect to get your desired results. These features require you to feed them information. For you to get results from them, you need to feed them the best possible data. And for you to get the best possible information, you need to (repeat after me) take-your-time.
It’s an overlooked but vital tip to keep in mind. One thing I’ve realized is that each DFS basketball scoring system has different expectations. So, how your team may perform in a head-to-head nine-category scoring system may be different from how it’ll perform in a rotisserie scoring system. So, keep the scoring system in mind when drafting your team.
As an avid DFS basketball participant, I’ll be honest: you might have to trade at some point in your fantasy basketball journey. So, it’s best to get familiar with it and do it earlier on during the league. Don’t just trade your players without any thought. Take your time and know what your team needs before making a trade.
If you’ve been participating in DFS basketball, you might have heard about this tip. If you haven’t, allow me to explain it to you. Punting focuses on particular scoring categories when drafting your team. By the way, the best time to implement this strategy is when drafting.
As a bettor, I like doing mock versions of casino games, sports betting, and fantasy sports. When it comes to fantasy sports, engaging in mock drafts is a great way to prepare for the actual drafting process. With a mock draft, you’ll know better about what works and what doesn’t. It also allows you to test out a couple of your strategies and, again, see what works and what doesn’t.
Finally, stay updated on NBA news. I feel this should have been my number one tip because the only way to succeed in DFS basketball is being interested in basketball. Keep tabs on your players, both before and after your draft. Anything can happen, and the faster you take action, the better. And the only way you can do this is by staying updated on NBA news.
I now have to wrap this guide up. I hope you’ve learnt something new about DFS basketball, whether you’re a seasoned or new participant.
Before I go, I’d like to emphasize one more thing: Pay attention to your individual needs and preferences when it comes to DFS basketball. There are many great tips (including the ones in this guide), but not every one of them applies to you.
There isn’t a particular “best strategy” for daily fantasy basketball per se. However, many strategies, like the ones in these guides, work great in different situations.
There are many DFS lineup optimizers out there today so, it can be challenging to determining which one is the best. So, it’s advisable to choose a lineup optimizer that ticks off what you’re looking for in one.
This depends on your league’s scoring category. However, it wouldn’t hurt to punt at least two categories.
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