Best Fantasy Basketball Sites for 2024

How to Play Daily Fantasy Basketball

Once you get to know the basics, you will see how easy it actually is to play on fantasy basketball apps. The first step is to join a league, whether it be public or private. You will need an invitation for a private one though. Then, choose your players and observe how their real-life performance is reflected in the points they earn you^[1].

No previous experience or knowledge of the sport is necessary to get started. Even if you don't know the stats of the players – which are conveniently displayed – you can still easily assemble a team by reading the on-page instructions. Just like on would when competing in fantasy football, you just need to adjust your team to maximize the points you earn.

The Draft

The draft is your first line-up, so make it count. Daily fantasy basketball sites have made this an enjoyable experience for players of all levels. You can find the players you're looking for either by using a search bar or by browsing the available categories.

Drafts typically take place before the start of the NBA season or the league in question. We'd suggest you focus on versatile players who are not easy to counter and can perform in the long haul. Nobody is irreplaceable, though, so keeping an eye on the performance of players outside your team is crucial. In a standard fantasy basketball team, you will need to fill these positions:

• 1 Point Guard (PG)
• 1 Shooting Guard (SG)
• 1 Small Forward (SF)
• 1 Power Forward (PF)
• 1 Center (C)
• 1 additional Guard (G) - This can be either a Point Guard (PG) or Shooting Guard (SG).
• 1 additional Forward (F) - This can be either a Small Forward (SF) or Power Forward (PF).
• 1 Utility player (Util) - This role can be filled by a player from any position, including PG

Scoring Formats

As we mentioned, your players' performance is what accumulates points for your fantasy team. There are certain elements of the game that are rewarded with points throughout the match, but the exact scoring is decided by each individual service provider. The actual scoring format of one of the fantasy basketball websites we reviewed is as follows:

• Point – 1 Pts
• Made 3pt Shot - 0.5 Pts
• Rebound – 1.25 Pts
• Assist – 1.5 Pts
• Steal - 2 Pts
• Block - 2 Pts
• Turnover – 0.5 Pts
• Double-Double – 1.5 Pts (max one per player)
• Triple-Double – 3 Pts (max one per player)

Scoring field goals is just one way for your selected players to earn your fantasy team points. It's about how they score and what else they do to support their team. A three-pointer is awarded additional points; assists and steals are also highly valued. Sure enough, double-doubles and triple-doubles are also a big contributor to point-earning.

Before Gameday

You need to be ready with your lineup before a certain hour on gameday if you want the changes you've been planning to take effect. Make sure that each starting position is filled. The starting lineups usually have eight slots to fill, and each of them takes a specific type of player. Some of them are available to players of different expertise, like Guard, Point Guard, and Shooting Guard.

It's important to have the right players in the right positions to optimize point-earning. Think of it as a chess game – you don't want your piece to get in the way of other pieces. If the competition allows for it, you can wait until the last possible moment before you make changes so you have the latest team news available to you before making a decision.

If you're in a standard re-draft league, you will need to do a lot of reviewing and adjusting to keep your team competitive.

The Waiver Wire

In Fantasy basketball sites, the waiver wire is a system of acquiring players who are not owned on any team roster. The waiver wire gives all teams a fair chance at getting a fresh recruit while preventing free-for-all type of claims of available players.

With the help of this feature, you can bolster your team's performance. Just replace the players who are underperforming with a suitable player from the waiver wire. That's why you need to stay active and check the waiver wire regularly.

Player Trades

Frankly, in the context of fantasy basketball, player trades are exactly as the name suggests. Player trades are the exchange of athletes between different teams within the same league. You should always be aware of what the change will bring to your team when considering a trade.

For that, you will need to check player statistics and the future potential of the new recruits before finalizing your decision. What's also useful is evaluating team needs, researching player trends, and reviewing your negotiation strategy.

Fantasy Basketball League Types

Having 82 games in an NBA season^[2] is no laughing matter for the fantasy sports player. If you're not up for the challenge of keeping up with the events, you can just choose a shorter or less demanding playing format. We provided you with some short descriptions of the available fantasy basketball formats out there.

Rotisserie

In a rotisserie league, your team is ranked in each statistical category available. Each player is considered for all categories^[3] in the game and is then ranked from first to last. Based on that, the players are awarded points. This is one of the most widespread ways of playing at fantasy basketball sites.

Season Points

Here, you can assign a point value to every statistical category available (points, rebounds, assists, etc). Again, all categories are considered when ranking players' performance. The winner for the season is the team with the most points.

Draft

In a draft league, teams are created through a drafting process. An important moment is when the draft format is voted on by participants. Usually, one of two options is selected – snake draft or auction draft. In the first one, participants take turns selecting players, while in the second one, players go to the highest bidder.

Head-to-Head: Each Category

H2H Each Category is one of the popular head-to-head league types. The rules here allow you to select a number of statistical categories you want to compete in. Your team accumulates points in the given categories, and the results are compared to your direct competitor's, which results in a win, loss, or tie in each respective category.

Dynasty

If you want to feel like a real basketball team manager, this is it. In this type of league, rosters stay with their respective owners. That means you don't have to draft a new team every season but get to keep the young and talented players you chose last season.

How to Pick the Best Fantasy Basketball Sites

When making our list of recommended daily fantasy basketball sites, before anything else, we checked for valid licensing. Licensing and a high level of security go hand in hand, but our reviewers also check for confirmation that SSL is used to encrypt all information on a platform. These are the other major factors we evaluated:

Bonuses, mobile compatibility, and support payments are another three essential features our reviewers evaluate. If you consider all of the above, you will be on your way to picking the top fantasy basketball sites that are most suitable for you.