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Historical NBA Fantasy draft: Which superstar comes out on top?

Josh Lloyd
·2-min read
Michael Jordan is pictured playing for the Chicago Bulls in the 1996 NBA Finals.

As we all sit around waiting for sports, and in particular, the NBA to come back, I was thinking of a great way to fill in the time. What better way than to do a fantasy draft?

Not just a regular fantasy draft, but one stretching back into NBA history.

So, that’s what I did. I gathered a bunch of my friends across the NBA and sports world and we conducted an NBA Fantasy draft, using players all the way back to the 1985-86 season.

Here are the rules:

  • 12 teams, standard nine-category format, snake draft for 15 rounds

  • Starting from the 1985-86 season up until the 2018-19 season, we can pick any player who has played during that time

  • Using Basketball Monster, the player’s best ranked season using 9-cat totals is the season we get for that player. If a player has equal best seasons, the manager gets to choose which year to use. For example, Michael Jordan was the number one player in 87-88, 88-89, 89-90, 90-91, 91-92, 95-96, and 96-97. Whichever manager selects Jordan gets to pick which season they want.

  • To add more complexity, when choosing a player, you also get the season before their best year and the season after their best season. So, a three-year window surrounding their best-ever season.

  • To even out the eras over this 35-year window of NBA basketball, player values are determined by Z-scores in each of the nine categories

  • Once the draft is completed, all teams will match up against each other and the final standings will be arranged, which will then lead into a head to head playoff, like a regular fantasy league.

It’s a massive undertaking to try and build the best team over 35 years in the NBA, and getting great people involved made it even more enjoyable and tough. I was joined in the draft by:

  • Matt Smith, Basketball Monster

  • Kyle McKeown, Basketball Monster

  • Greg Ehrenberg, Basketball Monster

  • Trent Copeland, Australian and NSW Cricketer

  • Andy Bailey, Bleacher Report

  • Kane Pitman, ESPN Australia

  • Jovan Buha, The Athletic

  • Sam Macey, The Athletic

  • Jared Johnson, Rotoworld

  • Adam King, Fantrax

  • Aaron Bruski, Hoop Ball

Let’s see how this draft all plays out and where your favourite player goes in the greatest fantasy basketball draft of all time.

Over the coming weeks, videos will drop on the Yahoo Sport Australia page on Facebook, as well as the Fantasy Basketball Insiders group.

Be sure to follow the page and join the group to get all the latest Fantasy basketball updates and chat with other members of the thriving Yahoo Fantasy community,