Tips for Fantasy Basketball on Sleeper

strategies tailored to Game-Pick and Sleeper scoring

Sleeper has introduced a new style of Fantasy Basketball. It’s centered around the idea of Game-Pick: where you choose one game/week for each starter. I loved the idea of it - no daily participation, similar feel to Fantasy Football, and a novel game mode.

This is my league’s first year on the platform. And 3 weeks in, I have learned a few things on ways to attack and navigate the new game mode. Most of all, I learned there is virtually no fantasy basketball content with the Sleeper platform in mind.

So, for my three readers: I appreciate you. I hope you and your league mates are having as much fun as me. Finally – please leave comments, thoughts, and your own tips down below!

And without further ado, let’s get into it!

1. Don’t pick your stars’ last game of the week 🙏🏼

Injuries, postponed games, and Covid-19 contact tracing put every game at risk.

Yes – accounting for Sleeper’s predictions, defensive rankings, and pace are all solid indicators to advising your pick. But, this all means nothing if the game isn’t played or your player is out.

Also, the Sleeper waiver wire’s 1-day delay complicates the process of finding a last-minute replacement.

Simple no-brainer, but my league has already seen games decided by stars like Kyrie, AD, and Giannis sitting Sunday games.

2. Hunt for players enjoying spikes in usage + minutes! 💥

Insert all 76ers bench warmers (Tyrese Maxey!). 🤯

I will bet there are more Tyrese Maxey situations on the horizon. When a team is playing with 7 players, I don’t care who you are. You will put up points, especially on Sleeper where volume trumps efficiency.

And more obviously, hunt for players with usage rates trending up! We’ve already seen the likes of Keldon Johnson and Chris Boucher paying dividends already. Two consistent ways of finding usage spikes are: injuries and players with rest days. A few examples:

Ja Morant goes down = Dillon Brooks + Kyle Anderson 📈

Blake Griffin sitting back-to-backs = Jerami Grant + Mason Plumlee 📈

The magic of the Sleeper platform, you only need to squeeze one good game out of a player!

3. Avoid choosing lopsided games! ☠️

This one is easy. Blowout games feature a lot of garbage time. Of course, this is not as easy as planned. One good way to identify lopsided games is taking a quick look at the Vegas lines. If the game is featuring a double-digit line, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to choose a different game.

Thanks for reading! :D

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Illustration by Michael Weinstein