The best tips and strategies to help you excel in fantasy basketball. Regardless of your experience level, here’s everything you need to crush your fantasy basketball and DFS contests.
Are you new to fantasy basketball and want some tips for building a juggernaut roster? Or, are you an experienced player looking to elevate your game to the next level?
In either case, this article is for you. We’ve compiled the best tips and strategies to help you excel in fantasy basketball. Regardless of your experience level, this list equips you with everything you need to know to dominate your fantasy basketball league and daily fantasy sports (DFS) contests.
14 Tips To Help You Win Your Fantasy Basketball League
Before we get into more specific tips that will help you in certain situations or league formats, let’s start with some basic tips that apply to any fantasy basketball competitor.
Tip #1: Know your league settings
It sounds obvious, but the first thing you should do is make sure you understand your league’s settings. You should know these like the back of your hand!
Are you in a points league or nine-category league? Are you playing Lock-In Mode or Game Pick Mode? Is it a redraft, dynasty, or keeper league? Are there head-to-head matchups or is it rotisserie? Your strategy and approach to assembling a roster will vary drastically depending on your answers to these questions. If you need a refresher on the various types of leagues, check out our article on the different types of fantasy basketball leagues and scoring systems!
Pay close attention to custom settings, too. You might be able to find an advantage that other managers in your league fail to recognize.
Tip #2: Stay informed throughout the NBA offseason
Become familiar with the incoming rookie class. Top rookies are often great values, as some NBA fans don’t follow college basketball and know very little about these first-year players.
Stay up-to-date on which new players and those who changed teams over the summer. Try to identify which traded players and free agent signings are poised to take on an increased role with their new team.
Note: You may be able to determine which players will take on a bigger opportunity in the upcoming season because the player who was previously ahead of them on the depth chart got moved. Your leaguemates may miss certain transactions, meaning these players could be bargains.
Tip #3: Pay attention to positional scarcity
While building your team, it’s important to pay attention to positional scarcity. In fantasy basketball, the number of quality centers is limited, so they get drafted early and often. The position tends to dry up quicker than others — similar to running backs in fantasy football. When you’re on the clock and trying to decide between two players at different positions, keep the heightened value of centers in mind.
How to Ace Your Fantasy Basketball Draft
You can’t win your fantasy league on draft day, but you can absolutely lose your league by drafting a stinker that can’t be salvaged. Here are some tips for dominating your fantasy basketball draft.
Tip #4: Do as many Mock Drafts as possible
Mock drafts are the best way to prepare for your draft. You’ll get to try out different strategies, see where certain positions dry up, identify the best values and get used to making tough decisions quickly while the clock is ticking down. When you’re mocking, you’ll draft teams that you love and teams that you hate. Both are important for figuring out the ideal draft strategy!
The more mocks you complete in the lead up to your draft, the more comfortable and prepared you’ll be for the real thing. Ideally, you’ll enter your actual draft with a great idea of which players to target in each round, when to target specific positions and the roster builds you prefer. If you do even a couple mocks, you’ll have an edge over your league mates who did zero prep.
Tip #5: Don’t drink during your draft
I know, I know, this doesn’t sound very fun. But every year, there’s someone who gets way too drunk at the fantasy draft and ends up making some wild picks. Don’t be the manager who accidentally drafts a retired player or runs out of time when they’re on the clock.
Since you’re the type of person who reads fantasy basketball tips, I’d imagine you’re taking this league pretty seriously, so remember, there’s plenty of time to drink after the draft is over! (If you aren’t a fan of completely sober drafting, at least wait until the later rounds to start drinking.)
Tip #6: Bring expert rankings to your draft
Rather than relying solely on the platform’s rankings and trying to judge players on your own, find an expert you trust and keep their rankings close during your draft. This will help you identify values on the specific platform you’re drafting on, and it will help you make decisions if you’re torn between two players.
There will inevitably be a pick where two players are available and you love them both — let a respected expert break the tie. Using tiered expert rankings is a good idea, as it helps you maximize value and anticipate drop-offs at certain positions.
Tip #7: Chase upside in the later rounds
In the early rounds, it makes sense to target high-floor studs who are relatively safe. However, later in your draft is the time to start taking some high-risk, high-reward chances. Look for young players who are potential breakouts or injury-prone players who could outperform their draft slot if they stay healthy.
In the later rounds, many managers chase notable names with past production because they simply run out of players they recognize. Try to identify a few young, up-and-coming players to target before the draft starts. Best-case scenario, you might find a league-winner or two. Worst-case scenario, you cut these fliers and replace them using the waiver wire. Speaking of...
In-Season Tips: Trades and Waivers
In fantasy basketball, the most active managers are typically rewarded. While drafting a solid squad is half the battle, making the right in-season moves is also important. Here are some tips for maximizing your roster during the season.
Tip #8: Attack the waiver wire early in the season
Every year, there are managers who are hesitant to buy a player’s early-season breakout because they want to see him produce over a larger sample size. While this is understandable, the early bird gets the worm in fantasy hoops. Another manager will likely snatch that player off waivers before you get a chance to evaluate them further, so if you fail to act you might miss out on a league-winner.
Attack the waiver wire early and often, especially if a player is making the most of increased playing time, taking advantage of added responsibilities, or playing better after a change of scenery or recovery from injury. Early-season breakouts are a fair predictor of season-long success, so don’t be too shy about using a waiver claim.
Tip #9: Use Sleeper’s trending tab when deciding who to Add/Drop
It can be tough to identify which players to add from the waiver wire and who you should cut, but that’s where Sleeper’s trending players tab helps. Each week, the Sleeper app shows you which players have been added and dropped the most by the platform’s fantasy managers. This helps you spot potential breakouts, while also helping you feel better about cutting certain players.
Tip #10: Find the right moments to trade
Identifying the right time to trade players is one of the most important (and difficult) aspects of fantasy basketball. The key is to sell high on players whose success seems flukey and buy low on struggling players who are poised to turn things around.
This is easier said than done. But Sleeper’s in-app research tools give you an edge by compiling the latest news, advanced statistics, roster/start percentages, matchup data, trends and injury reports. Watching the games can be helpful, too.
The best managers balance advanced stats and trends with the eye test, especially when trying to determine whether a player’s production, usage and role are sustainable.
If you get the feeling that a player is going to come back down to Earth, try shopping them around and see if other managers are overvaluing them. If you think a slumping player can right the ship, try to buy them for pennies on the dollar.
Tips For Category Leagues
A nine-category league is very different from a points league — from a strategy perspective to how players are valued. Here are some tips specifically for category leagues.
Tip #11: Avoid one-dimensional players
In nine-category leagues, the most valuable players are well-rounded individuals without any glaring weaknesses, and the least valuable are one-dimensional players who can’t help in multiple categories. This is very different from a points league, thus highlighting the importance of knowing your league settings.
Scorers who provide little outside of getting buckets are often downgraded in a category league. If a player is an inefficient chucker, he’ll lose a lot of value in a nine-category league where shooting percentages matter. Also, big men who can only rebound and block shots lose value in a category league because of their lack of points, assists, steals and threes (as well as their poor shooting percentages).
Tip #12: Create a list of specialists to target
In nine-category leagues, it’s important to find specialists who can help you shore up certain categories. Before your draft, put together a list of potential specialists that you like and sort them by their archetype — from 3-and-D specialists and stretch bigs to pass-first facilitators and high-percentage shooters.
As you’re drafting and identifying which categories you need to firm up, you can quickly identify which specialists to look for once you’re on the clock (as well as which categories you’re okay with punting).
Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) Tips
While we’ve focused on season-long tips to this point, here are some additional pointers to help with DFS competitions.
Tip #13: Take advantage of limited data early in the season
Early in the season, accurate totals and player prices are harder for DFS platforms to project due to the limited data from so few games. Take advantage of this! As the season goes on and each player has played a significant number of games, the data will only get more accurate.
Many DFS sharks stay hyper-informed during the NBA offseason so they have a good idea of which players are poised for a bigger opportunity. They’re able to exploit the lack of early-season data and pounce where there’s high potential value.
Tip #14: Use a DFS lineup optimizer
Today, there are plenty of DFS lineup optimizers that will help you build the perfect squad. Lineup optimizers compare each player’s projected totals and prices across various DFS platforms to find disparities and help you recognize the best values.
When building your team, these optimizers help you identify free-space players who should absolutely be in your lineup as well as overpriced players to avoid.
Fantasy Basketball Tips: Frequently Asked Questions
Who Were the Best Players in Fantasy Basketball This Season?
The best players vary depending on the scoring format. But for the sake of this answer, let’s cover the top players in points leagues. During the 2023-24 season, the following players averaged the most fantasy points per game:
- Luka Doncic (59.34 FPPG)
- Joel Embiid (59.30 FPPG)
- Nikola Jokic (57.18 FPPG)
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (55.75 FPPG)
- Anthony Davis (52.42 FPPG)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (51.40 FPPG)
- Victor Wembanyama (48.97 FPPG)
- Domantas Sabonis (47.69 FPPG)
- LeBron James (45.02 FPPG)
- Jayson Tatum (45.02 FPPG)
What Is the Most Common Type of Fantasy Basketball League?
The most common settings in fantasy basketball are rotisserie scoring leagues. While they can be a bit complicated for newcomers, there are many passionate fantasy basketball managers who love the in-depth nature of these leagues, which rank teams from first to last in order of statistical categories.
However, points leagues are gaining popularity in recent years given the similarities to fantasy football and the influx of new users trying fantasy basketball for the first time. Sleeper offers two points-driven formats with Lock-In mode and Game Pick mode.
Good Luck!
Now that you’ve read these tips, you’re ready to dominate. Whether you’re playing a season-long league or trying to win money playing DFS, these pointers will help you find an advantage.
If you’re interested in starting a fantasy basketball league, Sleeper has you covered. Sleeper offers exclusive features like Lock-In mode, Game-Pick mode, voice and text chat, custom scoring, in-depth notes for research, custom playoff settings, no ads, multi-team trades, every type of league (including keeper and dynasty), weekly league reports, live scoring, each player's transaction history and more.
Not only is Sleeper an excellent platform for season-long fantasy leagues, it’s also a great destination for DFS. With Sleeper Picks, you can 100x your winnings with just a few selections, follow live game casts, and chat with your squad mates as you compete.
