2026-2027 CBSSports.com Free Fantasy Basketball Official Rules

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1. Introduction
CBSSports.com Free Fantasy Basketball
Welcome to the CBSSports.com Free Fantasy Basketball Leagues ("Free Fantasy Basketball"), where you can start your own twelve (12) team Fantasy Basketball league (each a, "League" and collectively the, "Leagues"), or join an existing League. You can play in a Rotisserie or Head to Head League. No matter what your skill level, you will find that there are a variety of Leagues from which you may choose to participate. Most Leagues include one sentence describing the type of player the League is looking to recruit (e.g., "experts," "beginners," "Cavaliers fans," etc.) so you should have no trouble finding the right League for you. The rules for Free Fantasy Basketball are explained fully in this document. If you'd rather make your own rules than play by ours, check out CBSSports.com' Basketball Commissioner service.For information on eligibility and disputes, including a class action waiver and arbitration provision, please see the CBSSports.com Free Fantasy Sports General Legal Terms.

2. Leagues
Signing Up
The "Playing Period" for each League will correspond to the National Basketball Association ("NBA") regular season. Prior to the Playing Period, CBSI will make sign up for Leagues available on its website on the Fantasy Basketball page. At some time after the start of the Playing Period, to be determined at CBSI's discretion, the ability to sign up will be removed. NOTE: You may sign up to play up to five (5) times (to avoid confusion you can create up to five (5) teams to play) in connection with each Playing Period. If you create multiple teams, each team must be in a different League.

If you are not a Registered User of CBSSports.com, you will be prompted to register prior to signing up for Free Fantasy Basketball. There is no cost associated with registration. As previously noted, we will provide a list of available Leagues for you to choose from after you sign up.

3. Draft
League Joining Deadline
After you become a Registered User, you may sign up and join a League at any time up to the Signup Deadline. All Leagues are required to have twelve (12) Managers. Opening day of the NBA regular season is set for October 20, 2026. In order for your League's fantasy season to start with opening day of the NBA season, you must be signed up and your draft started by 11:59 PM ET on October 19, 2026.

Live Draft Leagues or Automated Draft Leagues
You will acquire players for your team within a League through a draft. Each League will be set at its creation to either "Live Draft" or an "Automated Draft." You can choose to join or create a Live Draft League or an Automated Draft League. During a Live Draft, the League participants (each a "Manager") can log in to an online "draft room" at the scheduled time, which will be designated by CBSI for each League. Each Manager, in draft order, has ninety (90) seconds to select an available NBA player for his or her team. If the Manager does not make a selection, then it will be determined for them by the same selection process used for an Automated Draft League, described below. This kind of draft is exciting but extremely fast-paced and recommended for experienced managers. See 'Live Draft Instructions' section below.

If you are a beginner or are unable to schedule a block of two (2) to four (4) hours for a live draft, you may prefer to participate in an Automated Draft League. After joining the League and at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the day of the draft, you may simply arrange players, using the "Rank Lists" provided by CBSI, in the order that you'd like those players selected for your team. The Automated Draft is then processed the morning of the scheduled draft day using your lists. The highest-ranked player on your lists who is available, and fits the roster needs of your team, will be selected for you during each round of the automated draft. See 'Automated Draft Instructions' section below.

Private Leagues or Public Leagues
If you know all of the Managers who are going to be in your League, or you want to recruit specific individuals and/or friends, you may want to join or create a "Private League". The person who creates a Private League sets a password and other Managers use that password to join the league. However, please keep in mind that the creator of a League will not have the ability to control any other League functions. If you already know all of the Managers in your League and want complete control of your League's rules, you should also check out the CBSSports.com Basketball Commissioner product, our powerful and fully-customizable stats service.

"Public Leagues" are open to all eligible participants. If you create or join a Public League, you will have no control over who joins the League. Be sure to read the description of the League you want to join to make sure it is suitable for you.

Winners Leagues
If you played a CBSI website League (excluding Commissioner Leagues) in a previous year and won your League, you may be eligible to play in an exclusive "Winners League". To create or join a Winners League, you must use the same CBSI website ID you used when you won your League.

Live Draft Instructions
After you join or create a Live Draft League, you will have the opportunity to make changes to the default Rank List, which is a list of all NBA players that are eligible to be drafted, ranked from best to worst by the CBSSports.com Fantasy experts.

It is recommended that, prior to your draft, you organize the Rank List according to your own player preferences. However, you are welcome to leave the Rank List in the order our experts have provided. During the live draft, your Rank List will be used in the event your time limit expires before you make a pick (explained below).

On draft day, there will be a "Draft Room" button available on your League home page. This link may also be available in the Draft Central page of your League. This link will allow entry into the draft room. During the Live Draft, each team will have ninety (90) seconds to select an NBA player. The order of the draft will be randomly generated between midnight and 6:00 AM ET either the day of, or the day before the draft, or for same day drafts once your League aggregates and no later than five (5) minutes prior to the draft date and time. If your League has the mandatory twelve (12) Managers as of approximately forty-eight (48) hours prior to your scheduled draft date, the League will aggregate and generate a draft order. If not, your League will receive an e-mail explaining that you must have twelve (12) Managers as of five (5) minutes prior to your draft date and time. Within approximately twelve (12) to twenty-four (24) hours of your scheduled draft time, your League will be moved into the same day draft option to help fill the league prior to the draft time. If your League does not have twelve (12) Managers as of five (5) minutes prior to the draft date and time, your League will be disbanded, and each Manager will have to join or create another League.

In the draft room, you will be able to place NBA players into a Draft Queue — which is simply a list of players, in order of priority, that you are interested in taking with your next draft pick. When it is your turn to pick, you will have ninety (90) seconds to draft a player. If the ninety (90) seconds pass and you have not manually selected a player, the player ranked highest in your Draft Queue will be automatically drafted. If the Draft Queue is empty, a pick will then be made from your Rank List. In such a case, the highest rated player from the Rank List will be drafted unless that position is filled — in which case the next best available option, at the next highest Ranked position list, will be drafted. The draft order will "snake" at the end of each round, meaning that the team with the last pick in the current round will have the first pick in the next round.

Waiver priority immediately after the draft will be the reverse order of the first round of the draft. So, Team #12 will have the highest waiver priority and Team #1 the lowest waiver priority.

You'll find more help with the live draft in the Help Center, links to the Help Center may be found inside your League pages after signup.

Automated Draft Instructions
As with a Live Draft, after creating or joining an Automated Draft League, you will have the opportunity to rank all the eligible NBA players.

As in the Live Draft, you are not required to make changes to our Rank Lists; if you choose not to, our default Rank Lists, which reflect the rankings of our Fantasy experts, will be used. However, if you decide to organize the Rank Lists yourself, you will have up to twenty-four (24) hours prior to your draft day to do so. When there are twenty-four (24) hours left until your draft day, the Rank Lists will be closed and cannot be revised.

On the morning of the scheduled draft day, your League's draft order will be randomly generated, and an Automated Draft will be conducted. Players will automatically be drafted for you using your personalized Rank Lists. If a personalized Rank List hasn't been created, players will automatically be drafted for you using the CBSSports.com default rankings. An e-mail will be sent to each Manager after the draft has been completed.

Please refer to the table below for the full breakdown of the rounds of the draft. You'll see that the order staggers each round of the draft (team #1 has the first pick in round 1; team #4 has the first pick in round 2, etc.) so that each team will have the opportunity to draft 1st in a round at least once.

Automated Draft Order
ROUND	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Team 1	1	8	3	10	5	12	7	2	9	4	11	6	1
Team 2	2	9	4	11	6	1	8	3	10	5	12	7	2
Team 3	3	10	5	12	7	2	9	4	11	6	1	8	3
Team 4	4	11	6	1	8	3	10	5	12	7	2	9	4
Team 5	5	12	7	2	9	4	11	6	1	8	3	10	5
Team 6	6	1	8	3	10	5	12	7	2	9	4	11	6
Team 7	7	2	9	4	11	6	1	8	3	10	5	12	7
Team 8	8	3	10	5	12	7	2	9	4	11	6	1	8
Team 9	9	4	11	6	1	8	3	10	5	12	7	2	9
Team 10	10	5	12	7	2	9	4	11	6	1	8	3	10
Team 11	11	6	1	8	3	10	5	12	7	2	9	4	11
Team 12	12	7	2	9	4	11	6	1	8	3	10	5	12

Waiver priority immediately after the draft will be the reverse order of the first round of the draft. So, team #12 will have the highest waiver priority and team #1 the lowest waiver priority.

4. Teams
Overview
There are two (2) League styles: Rotisserie and Head-to-Head. Each League will have a total of twelve (12) teams. Each Head-to-Head style League will be randomly divided into three (3) divisions of four (4) teams each. There are no divisions in Rotisserie Leagues. Rosters in both styles of Leagues will consist of 13 NBA players (NOTE: all players drafted into a team may not play for the same NBA team). Managers may select a starting lineup each week from these 13 players. The chart below lists the required number of players at each position for the 'starting lineup' and the 'draft'.

Roster Requirements
Position	Starting Lineup	Draft
Centers (C)	1	2
Forward (F)	4	6
Guard (G)	4	5
Center/Forward/Guard*	1	-
All Positions	10	13

Please note that, throughout the season, your overall roster is not restricted to a specific number of players at each position. Once the draft is over, you can carry, in reserve, as many or as few players at each position as you like, as long as your overall roster does not exceed 13 players.

During the draft, players are drafted at the position they are listed under in our database, regardless of whether that player plays multiple positions.

5. Head-to-Head Scoring
Point Values
Each week, your team will compete against another team in your League in a head-to-head matchup. During a matchup, each of the players in your starting lineup ("active players") for that week will earn points based on actual statistics from NBA games. The charts below list the statistics and their point values.

Scoring
Statistic	Value
PTS - Point	1 point
AST - Assist	2 points
TRB - Rebound	1 point
ST - Steal	1 point
BK - Block	1 point
TO - Turnover	-1 point

Each NBA player's points will be averaged based on the number of games he played during the Scoring Period. For example, if LeBron James scores 90 Fantasy points in 3 games, 30 points will be contributed to the team score.

Wins & Losses
For each head-to-head matchup, the team with the greater number of points will earn a Win and the team with the lesser number will earn a Loss. During the regular season, if two teams have the same number of points, each team will get a Tie.

During the playoffs, there are no ties. In the event of tie, the team with the better tiebreaker total will earn the win. The tiebreaker is computed as follows:

• Total points scored minus Turnovers. The Tiebreaker is computed using your active roster's statistics.
• In the event that a tie remains, the Win will be awarded to the home team.

Statistics Corrections
Your League's pages will be updated to reflect official NBA statistics corrections that occur up to seven (7) days after the game has been completed. For example, for a Saturday game, the official scoring change would have to be made by the following Saturday to be included in our statistics. If the change is made any later, it will not be included in our statistics and your official fantasy scoring will be based on the original statistic. The final week of the fantasy regular season as well as throughout the fantasy playoffs, statistics will be final on the Monday morning, at 6 a.m. Eastern Time ("ET"), after the Weekly Scoring period has concluded.

Please note: at the completion of the last game of the Fantasy Regular Season (as defined below), all statistics are considered Final. Once playoff teams are announced, any statistics corrections that impact the Fantasy regular season will not be included.

6. Schedule & Playoffs (for HEAD-TO-HEAD leagues only)
Regular Season
The first twenty-two (22) weeks of the NBA season represent the regular season for CBSSports.com Fantasy Basketball leagues (the "Fantasy Regular Season"). During these twenty-two (22) weeks, each team will play the other teams in its division three times each (9 total matchups), they will play each of the teams in the other divisions once (8 total matchups), and one (1) additional matchup versus five random non-divisional teams (5 total matchups).

When the draft is complete, you can see your team's specific schedule by clicking the Schedule link.

Playoffs
When the Fantasy Regular Season ends, 4 teams from the league will make the playoffs: the 3 division leaders (the team with the best win/loss record in each division) and a wildcard team, which is the team with the best win/loss record in the league, excluding the 3 division leaders.

The division leader with the best record going into the playoffs will be the #1 seed, and the #1 seed will play the wildcard (seed #4) in the first playoff match to coincide with the NBA Season week 23. The other division leaders will be seeded #2 and #3, and will also face each other in week 23.

If there is a tie for the order of playoff seeds, the following tie-breakers will be used.

1. Year-To-Date ("YTD") Points Scored
2. YTD Points Against

Note: YTD Points Against is determined by the competitor that has the highest YTD Points Against Total.

Each playoff matchup will run from Monday-Sunday during the H-t-H Playoff Period.

In the event of tie in a playoff matchup, the team with the higher seed position will win the matchup. For example, seed #1 seed vs #4 matchup tie, seed #1 would advance.

For teams that do not qualify for the playoffs, the season will effectively end. No further add/drop transactions will be permitted for any team that does not make the playoffs, or for any team that is eliminated from the playoffs.

Playoff Schedule
NBA Week 23	NBA Week 24	Week 24 Results
#1 vs. #4 #2 vs. #3	Winner #1-#4 vs. Winner #2-#3	Winner: Champion Loser: Runner Up

7. Rotisserie Scoring
Categories
In our Rotisserie scoring system, each team will be ranked against the other 11 teams in 10 different categories. The team with the highest rank in a category will receive 12 points (based on the number of teams) for that category, the second best 11, and so on. The team with the lowest rank in a category will receive 1 point for that category. The sum of the points for each category will determine a team's score. The following categories will be used:

Roto Stat Categories
Field Goal %	Free Throw %
3 Pointers	Total Points
Blocks	Rebounds
Steals	Assists

Notes:
There will be no tie-breaker to determine Rotisserie League champions.

8. Lineup Changes
Weekly Lineups
Free Fantasy Basketball uses weekly lineups for all Leagues. A week runs from Monday's games through Sunday's games (with the exception of Week 1, which runs from Tuesday to Sunday) and, once a week begins, lineups can't be changed for that week. Each week, Managers have the opportunity to select their starting lineup for the upcoming week. If a Manager does not set a lineup for a particular week, the Manager's lineup from the previous week will be used. If a Manager has an illegal lineup (it does not comply with these Terms), their team will score zero points for the scoring period.

Weekly Lineup Setting Deadline
The deadline for setting your lineup is five (5) minutes before the first NBA game in which each individual NBA player in your fantasy team is scheduled to play for the applicable weekly period. For clarity, if a NBA player does not have a scheduled game on Monday, that player will remain unlocked until five (5) minutes prior to the scheduled time such NBA player's team plays their first NBA game. Please note that player involved in a delayed or postponed game will lock at the originally scheduled lock time.

9. Adding and Dropping Players
Overview
Throughout the season, you may want to improve your roster by adding available Free Agents and dropping players that aren't performing to your expectations. With only two (2) exceptions, there are no limits to the number of Add/Drops you can request, nor are there any transaction fees.

1. The first exception is when a Manager drops his entire team or a significant number of players, also known as "team dropping". Team dropping has a negative impact on the League and as such, any Manager who elects to drop his team shall be subject to immediate removal from the League. Players selected from waivers or added from free agency that were part of a team drop may be reversed at CBSI's discretion. In such move reversals, the waiver ranks will not be reset. Free Fantasy Basketball uses weekly lineups, so any changes made may go into effect for the following week's games.
2. The second exception is abuse of the waiver process. This is when a Manager adds then drops a series of players, putting those players on waivers and making them inaccessible to other Managers. Such an action could result in forfeiture of points as well as that Manager being blocked from making any additional add/drops for the remainder of the season, in some cases dismissal from the League as determined solely by CBSI.

If either of these situations occurs within your League, please contact CBSI through the Help Center as soon as possible. All decisions regarding enforcement of the exceptions to unlimited Add/Drops will be made by CBSI in its sole and exclusive discretion.

Free Agents
Any player not on any other team's Fantasy roster and not on Waivers (discussed below) is considered a free agent ("Free Agent"). In Head-to-Head Leagues, requests for Free Agents are effective for the following week's games. For example, if a Manager adds a Free Agent and drops a player on Wednesday, the roster is instantly updated for the following week, but the "pre-Add/Drop" roster is still in effect for the remainder of the current week's games. The deadline for submitting a Free Agent request is thirty (30) minutes before the first game of the scoring period in order to have the transaction effective for that week.

Waivers
In order to provide an equal opportunity for all Managers to add players that are new to the Free Agent pool, a Waivers process is used. Managers' requests to add players on waivers are not executed immediately but are put in a pending status for at least twenty-four (24) hours. This allows multiple teams to request the same players. Every night between midnight and 6:00AM ET a Waivers process will be run, executing the pending requests in "Waiver Rank" order (explained below). All transactions during the waiver process are effective for the next scoring period.

Waiver Rank
As stated, during the waiver process, pending transactions are processed in Waiver Rank order. The team with a Waiver Rank of one (1), considered the highest, will get its first requested player. After the transaction is executed, the team's Waiver Rank is then set to twelve (12) (last), and all other teams move up by one (1). The initial Waiver Rank of the season is based on the reverse order of the draft. The team that selected last in the first round of the draft will have a waiver rank of one (1).

If a team's highest pending transaction becomes invalid because another team received the requested player, the transaction gets deleted and the team's next transaction, if one exists, becomes that team's highest. If a team doesn't have any pending transactions because all players requested were taken by other teams, or the Manager simply didn't request any players, there isn't any penalty and the team's Waiver Rank will not be changed.

Undroppable Players
To maintain the integrity of your League, you will be prevented from dropping certain star NBA players throughout the season. CBSI, as commissioner of all CBSSports.com Fantasy Basketball Leagues, will decide - in its sole and exclusive discretion - which NBA players are undroppable. If there are players we've deemed undroppable on your roster, they will not be displayed on the Transactions, Add/Drop page. You may appeal to CBSI for permission to drop an undroppable player; however, CBSI will make the final decision on all undroppable player requests in its sole and exclusive discretion. Appeals can be sent via the Help Center page and should include the names of the players you want to add and drop.

10. Trades
Trade Approvals
In an effort to prevent collusion among Managers, and to ensure fair competition, a trade voting and approval process is used. After a trade is accepted by the system, it will enter the voting process that will last for at least one (1) full calendar day (the "Voting Period"). If four (4) Managers in your League object to the trade within the Voting Period, the trade will not be immediately executed, and instead go to the Commissioner for approval. The Commissioner will review such objected trades in a timely manner and decide if such trades are to be executed or rejected; the Commissioner decisions are final. Trades made on Saturdays, which four (4) or more Managers object to, may NOT be effective for the upcoming play period, as these are now subject to Commissioner approval.

If four (4) Managers do not object before the Voting Period is up, then your trade will be processed overnight. As an example, a trade made at 5 P.M. ET Tuesday will not execute at 5 P.M. ET Wednesday but will be processed between midnight and 5 AM ET Thursday morning, to allow for the Voting Period to conclude. Therefore, all trades must be made (i.e., accepted by both parties involved and without objection from at least 4 other Managers) prior to 11:59 PM ET each Saturday night to be effective for the following week. However, please note, that trades that do not meet the necessary number of objections are still subject to review by the Commissioner, to determine fairness principles are followed and to keep the integrity of the league. Any trade reviews and determinations by the Commissioner are final.

Trades that go to Commissioner for approval on Monday will be processed after the lineup locks on Monday. Please always check your team Monday morning.

Multi-Player Trades
Managers can enter unbalanced multi-player trades such as trading three (3) players for one (1) player. However, the maximum roster size (and the position restrictions) will ultimately be enforced. If a trade is executed and your resulting roster has greater than the maximum number of players allowed, or it violates the other position requirements, you will be required to enter the necessary transactions to correct your roster. If your roster is not legal by five (5) minutes before the first game of the week, your players will not accumulate statistics or points for the ensuing week.

Trade Deadline
In an effort to keep the integrity of the League, a deadline for trades will be imposed at 11:59 P.M. ET 2/17/2027. No trades can be accepted after the aforementioned date. If a trade is performed on 2/17/2027, it will still be allowed to go through the voting process.