The best reason to start an NBL fantasy league is simple: every game becomes more interesting when your mates have something riding on it. Suddenly a routine Tuesday fixture matters, the group chat has an actual ladder to argue about, and a player who was barely on your radar can become everyone's favourite waiver target.
You don't need a huge group or a complicated constitution to get going. But a little organisation before the draft makes the whole season much smoother.
Here's a practical way to set up a National Basketball League fantasy draft competition on Buckets.
1. Find your managers — and choose a commissioner
Start with the people who actually want to follow the NBL: friends, workmates, family or a basketball club group. Ask who is prepared to draft a team and check their line-up regularly through the season.
One person needs to be the commissioner. That doesn't mean they get to win all the arguments. It means they create the league, invite managers, configure rules and handle the administrative decisions required by the competition.
Pick someone who can be consistent and reasonably organised. They should be willing to explain the rules before disputes arise, rather than inventing an interpretation midway through a close matchup.
How many managers should you invite? There is no single perfect number. A smaller league means more player talent is likely to remain available after the draft. A larger league makes squad depth and player research more important. The exact number you can support depends on the current league settings and roster sizes.
2. Choose Draft rather than a salary-cap game
NBL fantasy fans may already know SuperCoach NBL Classic, where a salary cap shapes squad selection. That's a different format from a private draft league.
With Fantasy Draft, managers take turns selecting from a shared player pool. Once a player belongs to one team in your league, nobody else can simply add that same player. Draft night matters because every selection changes what's still available.
This creates its own kind of rivalry. It also makes trades meaningful: if you want someone else's star, you have to give the other manager a reason to part with them.
If you're trying to decide which format suits your group, read Fantasy Draft vs SuperCoach. For this guide, we'll concentrate on setting up a Buckets draft league.
3. Create the league on Buckets
Head to Buckets Fantasy and choose to start a league. Create your account or sign in, then follow the league-creation flow.
Give the competition a recognisable name. There is nothing wrong with a terrible basketball pun, but choose something the managers will actually recognise when they receive an invitation.
Select the NBL if it's available for new leagues in the current creation flow. Buckets publishes basketball journalism about other competitions, but news coverage does not automatically mean a competition's fantasy game is publicly available.
Once the league exists, use the provided invitation tools to bring in your managers. Everyone should use their own account rather than sharing someone else's login.
The Buckets creating-a-league help page covers the standard onboarding steps.
4. Agree on the scoring formula first
Before anyone starts ranking players, decide how real basketball performances will become fantasy scores.
Will a rebound be worth the same as an assist? How much value should steals and blocks carry? Do turnovers count against players? Buckets uses the scoring weights configured for the fantasy league rather than a fixed universal score.
These decisions change player values. A guard who dominates the ball may become less attractive if turnovers are heavily penalised. A centre with reliable rebounds and blocks may become particularly valuable when those actions are rewarded.
You don't need to make scoring complicated. Starting with a straightforward formula is often easier for new managers. Just make the final weights visible to everyone before the draft.
Our guide to fantasy basketball scoring explains the calculations and trade-offs. The Buckets scoring help covers how the platform applies the league's rules.
5. Set the roster and line-up rules
Next decide how many players each fantasy team can draft and which positions count in its starting line-up.
Your available settings may include guards, forwards, centres, utility spots, bench roles and substitute structures. The exact options depend on the current league configuration and competition.
Think about the size of your manager group. If you ask a large league to fill very deep rosters, the available pool can get thin. That's not necessarily bad — some groups enjoy hunting for overlooked role players — but everybody should understand what they're signing up for.
Explain the lockouts too. Managers need to know when a starting player can no longer be moved, especially if the real NBL games in a scoring round begin at different times.
No one enjoys learning a rule for the first time because their best scorer has been locked on the bench.
6. Choose how the draft will run
Draft night is the season's first big event. Set the format, selection order and timer according to your league's available options, and make sure everyone knows when to join the room.
In a snake draft, the pick order reverses from one round to the next. The manager picking last in Round 1 picks first in Round 2. Other draft formats work differently, so confirm the current setting rather than assuming your league must be a snake draft.
Encourage managers to prepare a shortlist. Buckets' draft room includes a player list and watchlist, allowing everyone to track targets without affecting player availability.
It's also worth agreeing on what happens if a manager can't attend. Commissioner tools depend on the configuration and should be used transparently. A fair process decided before draft night avoids a much longer argument afterwards.
For more detail, see What Is a Snake Draft? and the Buckets draft help page.
7. Explain trades, waivers and free agents
A drafted roster isn't frozen for the whole season. Managers can look for replacements when a player becomes injured, leaves a rotation or simply isn't producing enough.
Your league rules determine which unowned players can be added as free agents, which are subject to a waiver claim, and how competing claims are resolved. Some leagues use priority ordering; others use FAAB bids from a set budget.
Managers can also offer trades to one another. These are negotiated swaps, with any applicable approval rules, deadlines and roster checks enforced by the league.
The commissioner should explain the system once, in plain English, before the season begins. Otherwise your group chat will turn into a judicial inquiry every time someone wins a contested waiver claim.
Read the full explainer on waivers, free agents and trades when you're ready to configure that part of your competition.
8. Plan for the NBL fixture
Unlike an imaginary perfectly balanced calendar, the real NBL has its own fixtures. Teams may play different numbers of games over particular scoring periods, and managers should check the actual match schedule rather than assume every club has identical opportunities.
The official NBL games page is the place to check the competition fixture. On Buckets, the fantasy period, player lockouts and matchup calculations follow the league's configured rules and the supported competition data.
A manager who pays attention to upcoming games, player availability and changing minutes can find an advantage without needing a complicated projection model.
9. Put the rules in writing
You don't need a 40-page document. A clear pinned message is enough for many groups.
Record the important settings: scoring, line-up positions, draft format, waiver process, trade rules, matchup structure, season dates and any finals arrangement. Tell managers whether and how you intend to resolve disputes.
Most importantly, avoid changing competitive rules halfway through the season merely because a result has become inconvenient. Normal platform permissions and lockouts continue to apply, even where commissioner customisation is available.
Currently implemented Buckets fantasy league and commissioner customisation features are free. Optional Buckets Scout player intelligence is a separate product; no one needs it to join and run the core league.
10. Draft, compete and keep the group chat alive
Once everyone is in, the draft can begin. After that, the rhythm is straightforward: check your players, set a legal line-up, watch the games, consider trades or claims, and follow your matchup.
A commissioner can help by reminding everyone about a new scoring period, clarifying the rules when asked and keeping disputes consistent. They don't need to manage everyone else's teams.
If you're new, the broader How to Play Fantasy Draft Basketball guide is a useful companion. When you're ready, create your NBL fantasy league on Buckets.
The best prize isn't always the championship. Sometimes it's having a good reason to spend the entire season arguing — affectionately, of course — about who actually knows the most basketball.
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