Here’s your one-stop shop for Fantasy basketball Picks and NBA Dream11 Basketball. If we talk about Basketball, our thoughts invariably go to the United States of America, the home of the NBA. And why not? The NBA is undeniably the most-watched and most-followed Basketball league in the world.
Basketball had its roots in almost every country, but Michael Jordan in the late 80s and 90s helped put the sport on the world map in a way that it became a phenomenon. Now the athletes playing in the NBA are amongst the best-paid sports stars with players such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, to name a few, household names in America, North America and most African and Asian countries.
The NBA full form is National Basketball Association. It is a professional basketball league that is played in the United States of America and part of North America. The league is composed of 30 teams; 20 from the USA and one from Canada (Toronto Raptors), which are further divided into two conferences, Western and Eastern, of 15 teams each. It is without a shadow of any doubt the premier men’s basketball competition in the world. Here is the NBA team list!
| Eastern Conference | Western Conference |
| Boston Celtics | Denver Nuggets |
| Brooklyn Nets | Minnesota Timberwolves |
| New York Knicks | Oklahoma City Thunder |
| Philadelphia 76ers | Portland Trail Blazers |
| Toronto Raptors | Utah Jazz |
| Chicago Bulls | Golden State Warriors |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Detroit Pistons | Los Angeles Clippers |
| Indiana | Phoenix Suns |
| Milwaukee Bucks | Sacramento Kings |
| Atlanta Hawks | Dallas Mavericks |
| Charlotte Hornets | Houston Rockets |
| Miami Heat | Memphis Grizzlies |
| Orlando Magic | New Orleans Pelicans |
| Washington Wizards | San Antonio Spurs |
Football, or known as soccer in South America, may be the world’s most-followed sport, but NBA pales it down, and every other sport, when it comes down to the money offered to the players. Some of the top NBA players rake in millions every year, while on average NBA players are the world's best-paid athletes by average annual salary per player.
Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is being paid a jaw-dropping USD 43,006,362 for the 2020-21 NBA season and NBA high for this season. The two-time NBA MVP and three-time NBA Champions repaid the money by leading scoring charts for the current season, where he averaged 32.0 points per game.
Washington Wizards Russell Westbrook is the second best-paid athlete in the NBA with a salary of more than USD 41 Million for the 2020-21 NBA season, while LeBron James, arguably the face of the NBA, is at seventh when it comes to net salary as he rakes in USD 39,219565 for the services offered to the Los Angeles Lakers. Here is the list of top-10 best-paid NBA players for the 2020-21 season.
| Player Name | NBA 2020-21 Salary |
| Stephen Curry | $43,006,362 |
| Russell Westbrook | $41,358,814 |
| Chris Paul | $41,358,814 |
| James Harden | $41,254,920 |
| John Wall | $41,254,920 |
| Kevin Durant | $40,108,950 |
| LeBron James | $39,219,565 |
| Paul George | $35,450,412 |
| Klay Thompson | $35,361,360 |
| Mike Conley | $34,502,130 |
NBA runs for almost nine months, including the All-Star Break and the playoffs. If you include the NBA Pre-Season, that duration even stretches to 10 months. A normal NBA season, a world without Covid-19, usually starts in October, which is normally preceded by a pre-season, every team free to play against any team either from NBA fraternity or against any other club in the world. The All-Star weekend normally arrives in February, while April is the month when the playoffs usually start.
Fantasy Basketball may be new to Indian fans, but it has been popular in the USA and North America since the 1990s when the internet became a worldwide phenomenon. Though the rules and the in-game play varies from one fantasy platform to another, the general concept is easy to understand, no matter which app/website you are using to play Fantasy NBA. For you to get involved, you must pick a game and then select a certain number of players, predefined as per each app’s version, and 8 in the case of Dream11, from each team.
The Regular Season is likely to start in October. There are no official reports but the regular season should be back to 82 games per team. And there might not be a play-in tournament in the upcoming season.The All-Star Break is likely to happen in February, while the Playoffs should start sometime in April.
The business end of an NBA season is the playoffs, a knockout phase where teams play against each other in a series of games, with the team winning most games advancing to the next round.
As mentioned in the table above, 30 teams are equally divided into two conferences, Western Conference and the Eastern Conference.
Before the Covid-19 outbreak, every team was locked in to play 82 regular-season games, with the top 8 teams with the best record from both conferences qualifying to the next round, i.e. the playoffs.
As per NBA playoffs rule, the first-placed team would be drawn against the 8th placed team, 2nd against 7th, 3rd against 6th and 4th best team must face the 5th best team in the first round of the playoffs.
Each NBA playoffs series consists of 7 games, with the team winning four games advancing to the next round. In addition, the team with the better head-to-head record gets the home advantage as well.
NBA hierarchy had to bend some rules in order to facilitate a full NBA regular season amidst the Covid-19 outbreak. The play-in tournament was first introduced during the 2019-20 season and was kept for the current season, i.e the 2020-21 NBA season. The new rules allow only 72 regular-season games, instead of 82, with the top-six teams assigned a spot in the playoffs, while the teams placed from 7-10 to enter a knock-out play-in tournament.
Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry became the oldest player to win the scoring title at the end of the NBA 2020-21 regular season. The three-time NBA champions scored at 32.0 points per game and beat Bradley Beal, 31.3 PPG, to lead the scoring charts. Curry also ended the season with the most 3 points, 5.3 per game, made this season.
Atlanta Hawks Clint Capela dominated the rebounds charts after grabbing a jaw-dropping 14.3 rebounds per game during the 2020-21 NBA regular season. Washington Wizards’ guard Russell Westbrook dished out a league-high 11.7 assists per game, while Rudy Gobert (2.7 blocks) and Jimmy Butler (2.1 steals) were the leaders of the blocks and steal charts for the 2020-21 NBA season.
How To Play Fantasy NBA Dream11 Basketball? In Fantasy NBA, every player is the general manager of his team with the power to pick his own players. Your fantasy basketball team has to have a minimum and maximum of 8 players, irrespective of the combination but the aforementioned number of players must be selected within the 100 credits cap. After you are done with selecting 8 players for your fantasy team(s), comes the next part where you will have to pick a “Star Player” and a “Pro Player” for your team. The Star Player will give you two times (2X) the points earned by the player in the game, while the points will get multiplied by 1.5 for the Pro Player in the actual match.
Different factors are considered while awarding points in a fantasy NBA match on Dream11. Almost every basketball player plays various roles on the court. Take for example Golden State Warriors points guard Stephen Curry. The two-time NB MVP runs the offence for the team, with scoring points his main forte, but he plays the role of a playmaker with more or less equal panache and puts in defensive work as well. So in a normal game, Curry is awarded points for his scoring, his assists, rebounds and steals and blocks as well. Here is a more clear picture of how the Basketball Fantasy Points System Work On Dream11!
How Much is the NBA Worth? The NBA has captured the big markets around the world. Players are the household names and teams boast loyal fan bases. That’s why the NBA is the fourth wealthiest professional sports league in the world, and the third in North America after the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) by revenue.
of April. NBA gets a lot of traction in India, but there are other important Basketball tournaments that get listed on Dream11, and also on various other fantasy platforms. EuroLeague is definitely one of the biggest Basketball tournaments in the world, other than the NBA of course. Europe’s premier Basketball tournament is contested by the top teams of the continent.
Turkey’s Anadolu Efes will be the reigning champions when the 2021-22 EuroLeague season starts.
The 2020-21 EuroLeague championship final was a one-game affair due to Covid-19 issues. Efes beat Barcelona 86-81 in the Championship Game to lift the coveted trophy.
There is no official confirmation on the key dates for the EuroLeague 2021-22 season, but the fans can expect the premier tournament to kick-start sometime in October this year. 18 teams are likely to play in EuroLeague 2021-22 season. Each team will be playing every other team twice, at home and away. The top 8 teams after the end of the regular season will then be allowed to contest in the playoffs
Spain’s top-tier Basketball competition, the Spanish Liga ACB, also known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is one of the premier Basketball competitions outside the NBA. Just like the La Liga, Liga ACB is also dominated by the perennial superpowers Real Madrid and Barcelona, who have combined for a whopping 54 of 64 league titles.
Barcelona are the reigning champions who won their record-extending 16th title after beating Real Madrid over the two legs. Spanish Liga ACB is seen as a solid foundation for basketball prodigies. Dallas Mavericks’ superstar Luka Donic, who is being tipped to replace LeBron James as the best player in the NBA, was a Real Madrid player before being signed by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2018 NBA Draft.
19 teams contested the 2020-21 Liga ACB season, including the top-18 teams from the 2019–20 season and one promoted team from 2019–20. Each team plays every other team twice on a home-and-away basis, while the top-8 teams then qualify for the playoffs.
Women’s premier Basketball competition in the United States Of America (USA). There are currently 12 teams in the competition. The league came into existence in April 1996, while the first season was played the following year, in 1997. Seattle Storm is the defending champion after beating Las Vegas 3-0 in the 2020 WNBA Finals.
The WNBA regular season normally runs from May to September. The All-Star games are generally played in the month of July, except in Olympic years. The WNBA Finals normally tips off at the end of September and stretches into the first half of October.
Turkish Basketball Super League was founded in 1966. It has grown in leaps and bounds since then. A huge amount of money is being poured into the league. The quality of players and play on the court has improved significantly while the popularity of the league is even threatening to supplant Spanish Liga ACB as the pre-eminent basketball competition in Europe. In fact, the gap between teams from BSL and Liga ACB has decreased far sooner than many expected. And it was clear when Anadolu Efes pipped Liga ACB super-giant Barcelona in the EuroLeague championship game.
Each team play two games against each other; one at home and one away. The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs. Anadolu Efes will be the reigning champions when the 2021-22 BSL season starts in October (tentative).
Basketball has been one of the most followed sports in Russia, but the official domestic league was founded only in 2008, and in 2013, the VTB United League was officially recognized by FIBA Europe as the top-tier Basketball competition in Russia. The league is mainly composed of clubs from Russia and from surrounding countries such as Estonia, Latvia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
CSKA Moscow are the undisputed king of the league. Not only Moscow are the defending champions, but they have won every title since the inception of the VTB United League in 2008, barring the 2010-11 season when BC Khimki won the title. Moscow’s dominance is unparalleled and beyond questionable.
Moscow have also won the EuroLeague 8 times, most recently in the 2015-16 and 2018-19 season.
The number of teams was decreased to 13 and should be the same for the 2022-22 VTB United League season. The regular season is likely to tip-off in October and should conclude by April. Teams finishing in the top-8 by the end of the regular season qualify for the playoffs. CSKA Moscow will be the reigning champions when the VTB United 2021-22 season tip-off later this year.
Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) is the top-tier men’s professional competition in Germany. The league is composed of 18 teams. There is a belief inside the basketball fraternity that BBL is likely to become one of the best leagues in Europe. Finances are being pumped to market the league, and the games are well-attended throughout the season.
Just like the other top basketball competition, a normal Basketball Bundesliga season is split into a regular season and playoffs. As mentioned above, BBL has 18 teams, while the top eight teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the playoff stage, which is played in a "Best of five" format. In addition, the BBL has a relegation and promotion system. The teams positioned in the 17th and 18th places are relegated to a lower-tier league. The playoffs The winning team of the final round are crowned the German Champions of that season.
Arguably the oldest professional basketball league in Europe, having been found in 1920. The Lega Basket Serie A is Italy’s top-division basketball competition and boasts some of the best-known teams in Europe. Serie A Basketball is unique when it comes to the composition of the teams. As per rule, every team must have at least five Italian players on its roster, plus, teams either can have five players from outside of the European Union or three from outside the European Union and four from the European Union.
Since the inception of Lega Basket Serie A in 1920, a total of 99 teams have played in the league and 15 in the 2020-21 season. Virtus Bologna are the defending champions, who shocked one and all by beating everyone’s favourite Olimpia Milano 4-0 in the best-of-seven series.
The National Basketball League (NBL), or simply, New Zealand Basketball League, came into existence in 1981, making it one of the oldest professional basketball leagues in Asia. Over the years, the league has gone through a lot of changes, with new teams forming while some others going defunct.
NBA struggles in its early years, but the success of Tall Blacks, New Zealand Men’s Team, changed the league’s fortunes. The financial resources have improved as has the number of teams currently playing in the competition.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup is a premier quadrennial international basketball competition for men’s national teams. It is the biggest competition played under the banner of FIBA (International Basketball Federation). The first championship was held in 1950 and was won by host nation Argentina.
Since that first tournament, the competition has grown in leaps and bounds and has become a prestigious 32-team event. 32 teams are divided into 8 groups of 4 teams. The top two teams from each group will be qualifying for the knockout rounds, which will be one-off games.