🏀 Doug's League

Fantasy Basketball 101

New to fantasy basketball? Start here to understand the basics

🎯 The Basics

Fantasy basketball is a game where you draft and manage a team of real NBA players. Their real-life stats become your fantasy points!

Think of it like: You're a GM building a team. Players you draft score points based on their actual NBA performance. Your goal is to beat other fantasy teams each week.

Key Concepts:

  • Draft: Once per season, everyone picks their team snake-style
  • Roster: Your team of players (some active, some on bench)
  • Matchup: Each week you face one opponent
  • Categories: 9 different stats you're trying to win

Head-to-Head means you face one opponent each week (like NFL fantasy). This is different from Rotisserie leagues where you compete against everyone all season.

Weekly Schedule:

• Week 1: You vs. Team A
• Week 2: You vs. Team B
• Week 3: You vs. Team C
...and so on

Your record (wins-losses-ties) determines playoff seeding. Best records make the playoffs!

📈 Basic Strategy

You can't win every category every week. The key is building a team that competes in most categories.

Good Balanced Build:

  • • 2-3 elite scorers (for PTS, 3PM)
  • • 1-2 big men (for REB, BLK, FG%)
  • • 1-2 playmakers (for AST, low TO)
  • • 1-2 defensive specialists (for STL, BLK)
  • • Good FT shooters to balance out bigs

Example players by role:
Scorers: Luka, Trae Young, Damian Lillard
Bigs: Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo
Playmakers: Tyrese Haliburton, Chris Paul
Defense: OG Anunoby, Herb Jones

📚 Glossary

FAAB: Free Agent Acquisition Budget. Money you bid to claim players.
Wire/Waiver: Free agent pool of unclaimed players.
Stream: Pick up players for 1-2 games then drop them.
Punt: Intentionally lose a category to dominate others.
IR: Injured Reserve. Roster spots for hurt players that don't count toward limits.
Back-to-back (B2B): When a team plays on consecutive nights. Players often rest or play fewer minutes.
Hot hand: A player going through a great streak. Good streaming target!
Sell high/Buy low: Trade a player when their value peaks, or acquire someone who's slumping.

Ready to dive deeper?

Check out resources like HashtagBasketball, Basketball Monster, and r/fantasybball on Reddit for advanced tips and player analysis!