The team that finishes the regular season in last place will be forced to pay an additional $50 the following season. This extra money will go to "The League's" champion.

​

Failure to pay league fees will result in league banning.

 

Article 2 – League makeup

 

Section 1 – Schedule

 

As long as there are 10 members of “The League,” the regular season will consist of 18 weeks. Each team will play each other team at least twice. The same groupings of matchups will always be joined together in a given week, but the actual week in which they are played will rotate each season. The playoffs will then be played out in Weeks 19, 20 and 21. The week numbers detailed above are subject to change based on the NBA's schedule accomodating the NBA Cup.

 

Section 2 – Playoffs

 

As long as there are 10 members of “The League,” the playoffs will feature the top six teams. The top two teams in terms of winning percentage will be guaranteed byes and the next four best teams will be wild cards. The third-place game will decide third place money and the involved teams’ position in the draft-pick selection process. The fifth-place game will have no meaning. Whichever team finished higher in the standings during the regular season will be deemed the fifth-place finisher while the team that finished lower in the standings during the regular season will be deemed the sixth-place finisher. All regular-season tiebreakers will be head-to-head record, followed by winning percentage in the final week of the regular season. The second tiebreaker will continue by week in reverse order until the tie is broken. Playoff tiebreakers will be head-to-head record during the season, followed by seeding.

​

The semifinal round of the playoffs will be reseeded. 

 

The consolation bracket will be played to determine the position in the draft-pick selection process of the four teams in the bracket. The winner of the consolation bracket will be first in the order, the loser of the consolation bracket championship will be second in the order, the winner of the consolation bracket consolation game will be third in the order, and the final team will be fourth in the order.

 

Section 3 – Locking eliminated teams

 

When a team is officially eliminated, that team will be locked and will no longer be permitted to make any roster moves. This will prohibit mangers from acquiring as many possible keeper options at the end of the season. Your keeper options should be limited to what your roster was during the season, not just a bunch of adds at the end of the season.

 

Section 4 – Waiver wire

 

The waiver wire system to determine waiver priority will be a continuous rolling system. The initial waiver priority will be determined by the reverse order of the draft order. If a team makes a waiver claim, they will move to the bottom of the waiver priority list and will only move up after another team makes a waiver claim.

 

Section 5 – Lineups

 

***There is a weekly free-agent moves limit of five, and there is no carry over of moves from week to week.***

 

As long as there are 10 members of “The League,” lineups will be as follows:

 

1 PG

1 SG

2 G

1 SF

1 PF

2 F

1 C

2 Utility

3 Bench

2 Injured Reserve

3 Injured Reserve +

 

Section 6 – Statistical categories

 

As long as there are 10 members of “The League,” the statistical categories in use will be as follows:

 

Field Goals Made

Field Goal Percentage

Free Throw Percentage

3-pointers Made

Points

Offensive Rebounds - This category was removed starting with the 2024-25 season

Total Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

Assist-to-Turnover Ratio

 

Section 7 – Trade deadline

 

“The League’s” trade deadline will be the Thursday of Week 18, which is the first available trade deadline date on Yahoo. The 2024-25 season is one week shorter than usual, so the trade deadline will be the Thursday of Week 17.

 

Article 3 – Offseason

 

Keepers have been eliminated from "The League" starting with the 2021-22 season.

​

Section 1 – Offseason timeline

 

The offseason will officially begin on August 1 of each year. The first order of business each offseason will be picking draft order, outlined in Article 3, Section 3 of “The League’s” Constitution. Once that is completed, teams will be allowed to trade players and draft picks up to and through Draft Day. The only offseason trade deadline will be a keeper trade deadline. Once keepers are selected, outlined in Article 3, Section 2 of “The League’s” Constitution, players who are not kept are no longer trade eligible. Draft picks and players who are kept can be traded up to and through Draft Day.

 

Section 2 – Keepers

​

NOTE: Keeper were eliminated prior to the 2021-22 season.

 

Keepers will be selected no later than a week before Draft Day. The rules and guidelines for selecting keepers and the keeper system are as follows:

 

Every team can keep a maximum of two players. You can obviously keep one or zero if that’s what you want to do. Whoever you keep will be assigned the draft pick he was chosen with this year in next year’s draft. If a player is kept for multiple years, his draft-pick value increases every year. If I keep a player who I drafted in the sixth round, he will be a sixth-round pick next year and I lose that pick in the draft. If I keep him again the following year, he’ll be a fifth-round pick and I will lose that pick in the draft. The only exception to who you can keep is that you cannot keep first-, second- or third-round picks. Also, if you want to keep two players who were drafted in the same round (say you made a trade, or picked someone up that someone else dropped or a drafted player and a free-agent player’s draft rounds overlap) you can keep both if you want, but you will be penalized — one player moves up a round. For example, if you want to keep two eighth-round picks, one becomes a seventh-round pick. The only exception to this rule is you cannot keep two fourth-round picks because that would make one move up to a second rounder, which you cannot keep. Once a player’s keeper value is increased due to this rule, he continues to move up throughout the draft in subsequent seasons as per the standard keeper rules.

 

Free-agent acquisitions are assigned in the 6-9 round range based on their final rank in that season. Ninth rounders will be players that ranked 151 or worse. The round assignments then increase by 50-rank increments. Players who ranked in the 101-150 range will be eighth rounders, 51-100 will be seventh rounders, and anyone ranked in the top 50 will be sixth rounders.

 

When a team has two draft picks and a keeper in the same round, they will be required to keep the player in their own draft slot assuming one of the two picks they have in the round is their own. If the two picks they have are that of other teams, they can decide which draft pick to use to keep the player.

​

Players who are added or dropped after the final day of Week 18 cannot be kept.

 

If a player is drafted, dropped and added by another team, that player will not retain his draft-day keeper value, will be judged as a free agent and assigned a draft round between 6-9. The only team that would retain that player’s draft round is the one that drafted him. A drafted players keeper value will only be adjusted if said player was drafted lower than the free-agent range of 6-9.

 

If a player is drafted, dropped, added by another team, and then traded back to the team that originally drafted him, the player will be judged as a free agent if applicable and inherit the keeper designation he inherited when he was added by the new team. If free-agent rules don’t apply to the player in question, his keeper value will remain his Draft Day value.

​

The only players that maintain their keeper value regardless of what happens to them throughout the course of a season are players that are established keepers. Players that enter the season as keepers always maintain their keeper value until they are no longer kept.

​

The deadline for finalizing a keeper roster during a season will be the Sunday preceding the final week of the fantasy regular season. Any players added or dropped after that date will not be keeper eligible.

 

Section 3 – Selecting draft order

 

League members will be allowed to choose where they pick in the draft. The draft order selection process will be decided by how teams finish in the postseason. The consolation bracket will be played to determine the position in the draft-pick selection process of the four teams in the bracket. The winner of the consolation bracket will be first in the order, the loser of the consolation bracket championship will be second in the order, the winner of the consolation bracket consolation game will be third in the order, and the final team will be fourth in the order. Teams that participate in the consolation bracket will be locked from making any adds during the two-week period. The six teams that make the playoffs will then be slotted into the draft pick selection order based on their final finish.

​

Note: The 2019-20 season's draft order will not be decided by the results of the 2018-19 season. A vote has passed to use a random order drawing to decide the draft order for the 2019-20 season. 

 

Section 4 – Trading draft picks

 

The offseason will be the only time teams are allowed to trade draft picks. You can only trade draft picks for the upcoming draft and any trade involving draft picks must have an even amount of picks exchanged.

​

Section 5 - Rule changes

 

Rule changes will be discussed and voted on during each offseason. As Commissioner, I will abstain from all votes. The below rules will regulate the offseason voting process:

​

- It will require six of nine votes from "The League" for any proposed rule changes or adjustments to existing rules to go into effect. 

- It will require an unanimous vote from "The League" for any entirely new rules to go into effect.

- If we vote on a new topic two seasons in a row without any changes, the topic cannot be voted on again for two years.

 

Article 4 – Trading

 

Section 1 – Acting in the best interest of your franchise

 

All league members will be expected to act in the best interest of their franchise. All trades will be allowed with the exception of situations in which a trade may be questionable to the entire league. In such situations, I, the commissioner, will speak to each league member to get their opinion on the trade. This won’t be a vote, but just a way to get different perspectives so that I may come to a final decision that is agreeable with the rest of “The League” on whether or not to allow a trade. I will continue to enforce the rule that no trade is final until I press submit. I will avoid vetoing trades at all costs because it’s not something I want to do, but team managers should not assume I will put through a trade automatically unless it’s clearly a good deal and both managers have a viable reason for doing a trade. If a manger makes a trade that involves an injured player, that is not an excuse for me to veto an approved trade. It is up to each individual to do the proper research on all players involved in a trade before making a deal.

 

Section 2 – Keeper trades

 

While members of "The League" voted against instituting a keeper trade rule, owners who are not active throughout the season should not expect me to approve keeper trades at the trade deadline. While keeper trades are fine if all owners are acting in the best interest of their franchise and either planning for the future or trying to win now, the concept is cheapened if it involves an owner who has neglected his team for the majority of the season. I think we have 10 owners who know what they're doing and pay attention, so I don't foresee this being an issue moving forward.

 

Article 5 – Integrity of “The League”

 

Section 1 – Setting a legal lineup

 

All league members will be required to set a legal lineup at all times. League members will not be able to bench players on purpose in order to alter their playoff and/or draft order positioning. Situations in which league members are not paying attention and leaving players on their bench who are playing will not be ruled an illegal lineup.

 

Section 2 – Penalties

 

Penalties will be assessed in the event that one or more league members are found to be colluding and/or breaking league rules. It will be in the discretion of I, the commissioner, to evaluate every trade, roster move and lineup decision as to whether or not it violates the integrity of “The League.” If a league rule is broken, or teams are found to be colluding, the involved teams could lose draft pick(s) in the following season’s draft, lose keeper slots, and/or be banned from "The League." The final penalty will be decided upon and administered by the commissioner.

 

Section 3 – Roster churning

 

Roster churning will not be permitted. If a team attempts to make numerous adds and drops in a given day or week in order to prevent other league members from acquiring certain players or a certain position, the moves will be undone and the team at fault will lose its waiver priority.

 

Section 4 – Remaining active

 

Owners will be banned and lose their teams if they fail to sufficiently check their teams. This will hold true for the entire season, regardless of your place in the standings. Hopefully the consolation bracket changes will keep owners interested because every team will have something to play for at the end of the season. I will put together a plan for what “sufficiently” checking your team means because I understand people are busy and mistakes are made. But blatant negligence will not be tolerated. It affects the playoff chase and the integrity of “The League.”

 

Section 5 – Commissioner assistance

 

I, the commissioner of "The League," will be permitted to assist owners with their lineups and roster moves in the following situations: 1) If an owner is unable to make game day changes to their lineup, they may give me access to their team to make lineup changes in the event a player is ruled inactive. They must tell me exactly what changes they would like made in the event a player is ruled out, and those are the only changes I will make; 2) If an owner mistakenly drops a player, they may ask me to undo a move for them. The request must come within one hour of the move they made. The only time I will undo a roster move made by mistake is if the owner who made the mistake does not make a subsequent move to correct the mistake on their own. Moves are easily fixable by dropping the player an owner meant to drop and re-adding the player dropped by mistake.

 

Article 6 – Expansion

 

Section 1 – Replacing owners

 

If a league member ever decides to leave "The League," we will conduct a conversation about how best to replace that owner. Whoever takes over that team will inherit that team's roster, and will choose keepers and its spot in the draft order based on the final roster and finish from the previous season.

 

Section 2 – Teams

 

If expansion ever occurs, “The League” would move to a maximum of 12 teams.

 

Section 3 – Schedule

 

The schedule would remain the same in the sense that the regular season would still consist of 20 weeks. Each team would play each other team at least once, with a second game against nine of the 11 teams. The same groupings of matchups will always be joined together in a given week, but the actual week in which they are played will rotate each season. The rotation will be moving the schedule forward two weeks from the previous season, with the idea of rotating which two teams each team plays only once each season. The playoffs will then be played out in Weeks 21, 22 and 23.

 

Section 4 – Playoffs

 

Six teams would still make the playoffs with the top two teams guaranteed byes.

 

Section 5 – Lineups

 

The only changes in our lineups would be the subtraction of a guard spot and the subtraction of a forward spot. As follows:

 

1 PG

1 SG

1 G

1 SF

1 PF

1 F

1 C

2 Utility

3 Bench

 

Section 6 – Selecting draft order

 

The selection process for picking the draft order would remain the same. Our two expansion teams, as is done in real life, would get first and second pick for their draft pick position.

 

Section 7 – Keepers

 

Expansion teams will be given the opportunity to select keepers from all other rosters following current teams’ keeper selections. Current league members will be able to protect one player on their rosters who will not be eligible to be kept by incoming expansion teams. Expansion teams will then be allowed to select their keepers from the remaining pool of players. The order of keeper selection for the expansion teams will be randomly decided and will involve a snake draft style until both teams have selected three keepers.

​

Article  7 – Covid-19

​

Section 1 – 2020-21 rule changes and contingency plans

​

“The League’s” plan for how to handle a potential cancelation of the 2020-21 season is simple: If there is no 2020-21 season, December 1, 2020 will serve as the beginning of the offseason for the 2021-22 season. Any transactions made in anticipation of the 2020-21 season will rollover to the 2021-22 season, and all players will maintain their 2020 keeper value.

​

The following decisions have been made about how to handle potential in-season cancellations of the 2020-21 NBA season:

• If the season is cancelled before Week 9 is played, all keeper rosters reset to pre-2020 rosters and 2020 draft order will roll over to 2021. All entry fees will be refunded.

• If the season is cancelled after Week 9 is played but before all six playoffs spots are clinched, rosters will roll over as keeper rosters for the 2021 season and draft order will be determined by the standings at the time of cancellation. All regular-season money won will remain with the winner if applicable, and the remaining balance will be evenly distributed between all owners. 

• If the season is cancelled after Week 9 is played and all six playoff spots are clinched, rosters will roll over as keeper rosters for the 2021 season and draft order will be determined by the standings at the time of cancellation. All regular-season money won will remain with the winner if applicable, and the remaining balance will be evenly distributed between the six playoff teams.

• If the season is cancelled during the playoffs, rosters will roll over as keeper rosters for the 2021 season and draft order will be determined by the standings at the time of cancellation. All regular-season money won will remain with the winner, and the remaining balance will be evenly distributed between the remaining playoff teams. 

​

The following rules will be put in place for the 2020-21 season to help navigate the potential negative impacts of playing an NBA season during the coronavirus pandemic:

• "The League's" rosters will have 8 injured reserve spots (increased from two in previous seasons), which can be used by owners in any way needed.