NBA Fantasy – Salary Cap Edition is back!
Season three of the game is out now, and whether you’re a fantasy guru, aspiring first-timer or casual fan, there’s a reason for everyone to get in on the action.
Drafting your squad:
- Each fantasy player drafts 10 NBA players for their team
- Five must be frontcourt players – small forwards, power forwards and centers
- Five must be backcourt players – points guards and shooting guards
- Your 10 players’ collective salary must not exceed $100M
- No more than two players from the same NBA team can be selected
Your goal is to build a balanced, productive team that will score the most fantasy points each day of the season. That means drafting a mix of premium and budget players who bring different on-court strengths to the table.
It’s not just about drafting players who stuff the scoreboard. Blocks and steals are worth the most of any statistic at three fantasy points each. Assists earn you two fantasy points apiece, while points and rebounds result in one each.
Salaries of players on your roster will fluctuate throughout the season based on how popular they are among fellow fantasy general managers. Those who are selected more frequently will become more expensive, whereas those selected less frequently will become more affordable.
Selecting your lineup:
Before every GameDay, you’ll select five players from your roster to start, and they’ll be responsible for your score. Your lineup can be a combination of three frontcourt players plus two backcourt players or three backcourt plus two frontcourt.
All selections must be finalized 30 minutes prior to the first NBA tipoff of the day. If you miss that deadline, your lineup will be automatically chosen for you, so that as long as you have a roster, you’re always eligible for points when the league is active.
The other five you leave on your bench can still serve a purpose. They can enter your lineup as substitutions should any of your starters play less than one minute in their game. Subs are made automatically, but you can assign priorities so that your preferred backups are chosen.
Any substitution made, though, must comply with the formation rules. That means you can’t have more than 4 backcourt players or 4 frontcourt players in your line-up at any one time.
Changing your team:
NBA general managers are always trying to improve their team, and in NBA Fantasy – Salary Cap Edition, you can too. The “transactions” tab is where you can swap players in and out of your roster as the season progresses.
You’re allotted two free transactions per GameWeek on the first GameDay of each week. If you’re happy with your roster just the way it is, you’re always welcome to leave it untouched. Just know that transactions you choose not to make will not carry over into the following week.
You can make as many changes as you want, but not without a cost. Each additional transaction made in a GameWeek where both free transactions have already been used will deduct 100 points from your team’s score that week.
Injuries to players on your roster are typically a good time to make transactions. If production from one or two of your players is lacking, then changes can also work in your favor. But you’re stuck with the rest of your roster for the GameWeek once you’ve used both transactions, unless you take that 100 point hit.
Competing with others:
Part of the fantasy fun is battling family and friends for ultimate bragging rights. Once you complete your draft, you’ll automatically be entered into global leagues for your favorite NBA team and home country, as well as a league that includes all general managers in the game.
Since you can choose to play NBA Fantasy – Salary Cap Edition at any point during the regular season, you’ll also become part of a league with other general managers who joined on the same GameDay and GameWeek as you. That ensures a level playing field regardless of when you join.
Classic leagues are also at your disposal. You can create a private league at any time and play directly against hand-picked competition. If you owned a league last season, you can renew it and play against the same people all over again.
In all, you can enter no more than 25 private leagues, but the number of teams in any given league is limitless. And if that’s not enough, you can join up to five public leagues, each of which feature randomly-assigned teams.
Joining the game:
Go to nbafantasy.nba.com now to draft your team and begin the 2025-26 fantasy season. To help inform your team-building process, check the “statistics,” “schedule,” and “player news” tabs.
Good luck and enjoy managing your own NBA Fantasy team!
