Last season, Jalen Johnson was one of the best options in fantasy basketball with 53.5 fantasy points per game.
Building your team is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s the first step you’ll take in NBA Fantasy: Salary Cap Edition, but by no means is it the last.
There are moves to be made throughout the season. These moves can maximize your scoring, giving you an all-important edge over opponents in your league.
Here are some tips to keep in mind as you embark on the 2026-27 campaign:
Transactions
Transactions allow you to keep your roster fresh. When players are sidelined with injuries or underperforming on the court, you can waive them and sign a replacement.
General managers have unlimited free transactions until the first deadline, which will be Oct. 20 at 2:30 p.m. ET. Two free transactions are awarded every Gameweek afterward. However, unused free transactions do not carry over.
Additional transactions can be made, but come at a cost — each of them will deduct 100 points from your total score. You’ll want to avoid those hits as much as possible.
Consider saving your transactions until the latter half of each Gameweek. Then, you can use the first few Gamedays of each Gameweek to assess how well or poorly your players are scoring relative to their salaries. You’ll have time to evaluate their value.
This approach also gives you some flexibility if one of your top scorers suffers an injury near the end of the Gameweek. With a free transaction still at your disposal, you can acquire a healthy, productive player to keep collecting points.
But don’t feel like you need to use both of your free transactions every Gameweek. If your team is scoring a lot of points on a regular basis, then stick with the players you have.
Treat additional transactions as lifelines — use them only when absolutely necessary. For example, if Nikola Jokić, Tyrese Maxey and Mikal Bridges are your three highest scorers and all suffered injuries, it could be worth taking a 100-point hit to make an additional transaction.
Chips
A crucial point boost can come from chips. When used, and when used wisely, they can make a real difference in your Gameday score.
There are three chips — Gameday Captain, Wildcard and All-Star. Each of them have different functions and can only be used so many times throughout the season. No more than one chip can be used in a given Gameday.
Gameday Captain doubles the score of a chosen player and can be used once per Gameweek. Wildcard, which can be used three times this season, makes all transactions free for the next Gameday.
All-Star allows you to make unlimited free transactions on an unlimited budget for one Gameday, but on the following Gameday, your roster returns to normal. That chip can only be used once this season.
You’ll want to use the Gameday Captain chip on your team’s highest scorer, since they’ll get the most points out of it. Look at which teams they’re playing in a given Gameweek and consider using the chip when they face one of the NBA’s weaker defensive teams.
Last season, for example, the Washington Wizards’ 121.5 defensive rating was the worst in the league. Jalen Johnson an elite option fantasy basketball with 48.3 fantasy points per game. It would’ve been smart to choose him for this chip when the Atlanta Hawks played the Wizards.
Before choosing a captain, though, make sure to check whether or not they’re active. If your chosen captain does not play, you cannot select another player to be your captain instead.
The Wildcard is a great way to acquire high-value players at no cost. Consider waiting until the fourth or fifth Gameweek of the season to use this chip, so that you can see which players establish themselves as consistently valuable.
As for the All-Star chip, it’s wise to hold onto it. Sometimes, the stars align, and all of the best players in fantasy are scheduled to compete against weak defenses on the same Gameday.
The top five FPPG leaders will be established by the second half of the season. Once you know those five, and believe something big is in store for them, pull the trigger on this one-time chip.
Lineups
Who you select from your 10-player roster for your starting five will ultimately determine how your team scores. These day-to-day decisions, then, are crucial.
It’s wise to keep one or two of your premium players in your lineup because of the upside they have. They might not score 60 fantasy points on every Gameday, but they do provide big numbers on a consistent basis, and consistency matters.
Reference the league schedule to help inform who you choose for those other four or three spots. Mismatches between the NBA’s top teams and bottom teams can often prove advantageous in fantasy for several players on those top teams.
Also, keep a close eye on trends to understand how players have been scoring during a given Gameweek or across Gameweeks. Feeding the hot hand pays off more often than not.
If Jaime Jaquez Jr., for example, has 40-plus fantasy points in five straight games, consider including him in your lineup. If Jalen Suggs has scored less than 20 fantasy points in five consecutive games, it would be smart to leave him on your bench.
You don’t need to know everything about the league to succeed in NBA Fantasy: Salary Cap Edition, but using the information available will only elevate your success.
FAQs
Where can I find the 2026-27 NBA schedule?
When you build your team, you’ll go to the “roster selection” tab on nbafantasy.nba.com. Scroll down near the bottom of that page and the league’s schedule can be found there. You can also find the schedule — including information on how to watch — at www.nba.com/schedule.
How do I know which players are valuable?
Also on the “roster selection” tab, there will be a “player selection” box on the right side of your screen. There, you can select “Value (fantasy season)” from the dropdown menu to see which players had the highest value in 2025-26. These rankings will be updated throughout 2026-27.
When can I make transactions for free?
You can make unlimited free transactions from now until the first Gameday deadline, which is 2:30 p.m. ET Oct. 20. You’ll then have two free transactions per Gameweek during the season. The All-Star and Wildcard chips also allow you to make transactions at no cost.
How do I win NBA Fantasy: Salary Cap Edition?
You can join up to 25 private leagues and up to five public leagues which allow you to compete against friends or other fantasy general managers around the world. In all leagues, teams will be ranked based on their total points earned this season. Score the most points to win!
