Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is undeniably awesome. So is Victor Wembanyama. Yet, in a traditional snake draft, getting both is essentially impossible given both are found firmly in the first round.
There is a draft format, however, that absolutely allows you to pair SGA and Wemby. Or Nikola Jokic and Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo... you get the idea. Salary cap drafts afford you the ability to assemble compelling collections of superstars.
The mission of this piece isn't solely to explain how salary cap drafting works, but more importantly, share several actionable strategies to help you thrive in this uniquely rewarding way to build fantasy basketball rosters.
How a Salary Cap drafts work
In ESPN salary cap drafts, each manager begins with a $200 budget to build out their roster. Default settings host 13 roster spots, with the calculator on my laptop revealing this is a bit more than $15 per slot. You are welcome, of course, to spend well above $15 to acquire star-caliber players, leaving less for filler and depth.
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Instead of having a fixed draft slot to acquire NBA talent as you would in a snake draft, managers rotate turns nominating players for bidding. As you might guess, the highest bidder when the clock hits zero lands that player on their respective roster. As my long-time colleague John Cregan once coined, "your reign as manager begins with a wad of fake cash, a couple of hours to kill, and an empty roster to stock."
Now that we have an idea how they operate, let's delve into some winning tips for salary cap drafts. The road to imaginary glory begins here.
Preparation pays
Leverage live draft trends as you prepare for your salary cap draft. Just like how we identify average draft position as a tool of differentiation and value in snake drafts, average salary performs this function in this format.
Unlike how we enter snake drafts knowing that certain players will get drafted in a finite range of selections, the variance and volatility of player pricing inherent to a salary draft demands you identify which players you truly want to target with your imaginary coin.