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Sponsor Message: SB Nation's partner FanDuel is running a FREE money fantasy basketball league all season long Half of the league wins cash. Join now!
Each week, I've shared you a trending player, mostly one on the Wizards, or also a lineup that I used for a one-day fantasy basketball lineup with FanDuel.
Today, I'll take a step back and share with you the types of leagues you can join and your relative chances of winning.
Free Contests
In order to play one-day fantasy basketball, you don't have to pay money. Some leagues are free. For example, there is a league for a 2016 NBA All-Star Game VIP package.he chances of you winning aren't going to be high and you can expect these leagues to have a high number of entries. Duh, it's free!
But if you win, you will get to spend a few days during Valentine's Day weekend in one of Canada's most cosmopolitan cities.
50/50 Leagues
These leagues are designed so that half of the entrants will win cash if they are in the top half of the standings after a contest.
As a general rule, you will have to pay money to get in these leagues. The entry fee is dependent on how many total entries can be in the league. For example, a $2 entry league may have up to 17,000 people. If you finish in the top 8,750 positions, you will all win the same amount of money, generally around $4. Some other leagues will give up to five times the amount of the entry fee for winners, but the size of these leagues are smaller.
If you are in a higher stakes league, your entry fee could be over $5,000. If you win, your payouts are also very handsome. However, your league will also have fewer people, generally around four to ten.
These leagues provide the lowest risk of losing money. However, even if you're a winner, your payouts won't be as great.
Traditional Multi-Person Leagues
A traditional league in a fantasy basketball sense is like how it would be for a season-long league based on how many winners there are based on the number of participants. For example, if there are 100 players in a league, five to ten win.
In FanDuel, there are many 100-player leagues where the Top-12 finishers win cash. If you entered in a 100-member league and wagered $25, here are the payouts you can expect if you finish in the Top 12:
- 1st place, $625
- 2nd place $374
- 3rd place $250
- 4th place $200
- 5th place $150
- 6th place $125
- 7th - 9th place $100
- 10th-12th place $75
Head to Head
This is a specific type of 50/50 league, but you go one-on-one against another person. If you win, you get 90% of the pot. You could wager as little as $1 but there are some leagues where the entry is over $10,000.
Promotional contests
There are some contests that provide a grand prize which include trips or things like that.
Besides the NBA All-Star Game, FanDuel is hosting a tournament with Playboy Magazine. Up to 80 people will get an entry in this contest via daily contest with $100 or $500 entry fees.
The winners of these contests will win an all-expenses paid trip to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles and enter in a $600,000 finals tournament on February 27. The grand prize winner will get $100,000 while the 80th place contestant still gets $3,000.
So that's a brief rundown on the types of tournaments you can enter in FanDuel. Play to win, but also these leagues can help guide you toward the risk you are willing to take.