NBA Fantasy Dynasty League Startup: A New Manager's Journey

As promised, here’s my piece on my very first dynasty league. I usually play redraft as many of the readers know who have been in my leagues, and this year decided to try dynasty as well by joining Noah Rubin's Tank Me Later Dynasty League, alongside Adam King from Fantasy Basketball International , D.Ball from Sports Ethos and others!

Currently, the draft is still underway, with only one round left to go. In this piece, I'll provide an overview of this exciting league, sharing my strategy and thought process in making my picks.

The league consists of 30 teams, each with 5 active Flex spots and 8 reserve spots, along with 3 IR/IL+ spots. This means that 390 players will be rostered total. Every year moving forward, there's a rookie redraft of 60 picks, with teams selecting based on a lottery determined by their record. Rosters cannot exceed 13 players, leading to necessary drops or trades during the rookie draft.

So in this draft, my strategy was to build the youngest possible team full of rookies and second/third year players with fantasy upside. The oldest player in my team is 24 so far! Below are each of my picks:

Lamelo Ball

Jokic, Wembanyama and Luka were the top three picks. At 4, I was deciding between Cade, Anthony Edwards and Lamelo. Deciding factor, since they are all the same age, 21, was Lamelo’s already proven ability to finish in the top 20 as he did a few years back and upside from there.

Ausar Thompson

Jaden Ivey, Onyeka Okongwu, Jalen Green were in my thoughts here, and I picked Ausar at 57 given he’s the youngest in that lot (20) and has a fantasy friendly skill set with defensive stats, rebounds, assists and I could easily foresee multiple top 25 seasons from him. I am a massive fan of the Thompson brothers and am excited to see what impact they make!

Jarace Walker

Jarace’s age, 19, fantasy friendly skill set with points, rebounds, steals blocks and playmaking upside made me decide to pick him at 87. Moreover he is in a good situation in Indiana as their potential PF of the future (Toppin there too) Other good picks I thought in this round were that of Jalen Green at 68, Duren at 62, Shaedon Sharpe at 73, Fultz at 82, Eason at 89.

Anthony Black

This one at pick 94 was probably the hardest for me since I was deciding between Taylor Hendricks and Black. I rate Hendricks very high, as you saw in my piece wherein I had him 4th in this class. Reason for picking Anthony Black was his draft capital (picked at 6th) and of course, Utah being a packed front court with Lauri, John Collins, Walker Kessler. You can argue that Orlando’s backcourt is also jam packed, however I think one of Suggs, Fultz or Anthony might get moved at some point. I still think Hendricks will eventually have multiple top 75 seasons in him, however I rolled the dice on Black having similar seasons with his assists/rebounds/defensive stats skill set and the hope that his shot improves.

James Wiseman

At 147, I picked James Wiseman and immediately had an element of regret. I really wanted Jaden Hardy, who went just 5 picks before, thanks Adam! Wiseman is not as elite of a prospect as Duren who I think is the Pistons’ center of the future. I do however think, at his age 22, he still has time to figure it out and become a serviceable big man of 25-28 mins with some blocks upside in a different team. In hindsight, I should have looked a bit closer at the other guys I was considering, Gradey Dick and Kobe Bufkin who were available.

Isaiah Jackson

At 154, I picked Jackson. Yes, Turner is still there in Indiana, however his contract is up in 2025 and Jackson is still only 21, so has time to be either Indiana’s center of the future, or potentially be on another team. He has massive defensive upside with threes and rebounding. I also had Jalen Johnson, Obi Toppin, Josh Green in my thoughts here who all went in this round and therefore I think were good picks.

Max Christie

Pick 200 onwards are real dart throws, since most of these guys are not established yet. At 207, I picked Summer League standout, Christie. Given his age, 20 as a second year player who is younger than multiple lottery picks from this year’s draft and upside as the starting SF on this team when Lebron is done and potentially decent role this year of 15-20 minutes, I couldn’t pass on him. Noah Clowney was someone I strongly considered here, who went 3 picks later.

Jaden Springer

At 214, I picked third year guard, Springer who is also younger than many lottery picks from this year, at age 20. I think he has monster defensive stat potential, given his G-League production along with the fact that he is considered a strong perimeter defender already, think like a De’Anthony Melton with some shooting upside.

Johnny Davis

At pick 267, I picked second year guard, 21, Johnny Davis. I think the draft capital of a top 10 pick the Wizards have put in him, coupled with potential scoring upside can see him carve out a rotation role in the NBA. Dalen Terry, Day’ron Sharpe, Trayce Jackson-Davis all went a few picks before mine and my queue was decimated. I think all those picks are great.

Josh Minott

At 274, I took second year forward, 20, Josh Minott who is buried at the moment in Minnesota behind McDaniels, Anderson, Gobert, Towns and perhaps even Leonard Miller. I think he has some defensive and rebounding upside as a role player in the right situation.

Goga Bitadze

At 327, I took the oldest player in my team, 24 year old Goga who is currently Wendell Carter’s backup in Orlando. Best case, he carves out a backup big man role who has potential for spot starts. He does have a fantasy friendly game with blocks and rebounding.

Zeke Nnaji

At 334, 2022 Nuggets first round pick, 22 year old Nnaji. I think in Denver the backup PF/C to have is Peyton Watson who went in round 6 in our draft, so Nnaji was a total dice throw at this stage as a rebounding forward with little upside.

Dynasty is a different beast, you really need to know your stuff, given the sheer amount of players that are drafted, the depth of detail/rotations that you need to know, along with fantasy translations of players from college, G-League etc since they may not have much NBA experience at this stage.

Hope you enjoyed this detailed piece and it gave you an insight into how I approached my very first dynasty league!

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