League Rules

This league will start at the beginning of the NBA’s Free Agency era - the 1988-89 season. Each team will be selected for control (draft-style) by owners, and the league will use real rosters and schedules, random progressions, and real draft classes from each year. Thanks to ‘dgtedford’ for the inspiration and head start with structuring to fit a realistic league - his NBA New Millennium league is incredible.

LEAGUE OVERVIEW:

Roster Deadline
Regular Season (82 games - 4 sims daily: approx. 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm)
Trade Deadline/Waiver Deadline (deadline for adds/drops/trades)
All-Star Weekend
Playoffs (16 teams - 1st round, best of 5 - rest, best of 7)
Sign Rookie Extensions/Max Extensions
Random Progressions
*** Expansion Draft (when necessary) ***
-Trades/Waiver drops allowed again-
Draft
Restricted Free Agency
Unrestricted Free Agency
-Adds allowed again-
End of offseason

*** Only in Expansion years

ROSTERS:

Each team will have 15 roster spots, with 12 being active players. Minimum roster size at all times is 8 players - the sim needs that many to run properly. Owners may exceed the roster limit during the offseason (in most cases), as long as they are compliant by the Roster Deadline (just before Day 1 of the season). Owners may not exceed roster limits or salary cap during the season. If a trade will take you over the roster limit or salary cap, you must first provide the cut (not waived) player(s) to the commish before it can be approved and processed.

SALARY CAP:

Each team will start with a salary cap of $136 (million) for the year. Teams may not exceed the salary cap during the regular season. During the offseason, a team may temporarily exceed the cap, but must be compliant by the Roster Deadline. If a team exceeds the salary cap after the Roster Deadline, their highest paid player for that year (not total contract) will be placed on waivers. This process repeats until the team is compliant. Also, as an additional penalty, any additional Free Agents signed during that year’s Free Agency period will be waived. The offending team cannot re-sign any of their lost players until the following offseason. Finally, this league will not use the “free” year that is standard with PennantChase contracts. Once your player shows “1” in the “signed next year” section, that’s their final season under contract.

CONTRACTS/CONTRACT EXTENSIONS:

A standard contract’s maximum length is 4 years, and the maximum raise or decrease in salary, year over year, cannot exceed $5. Unsigned Free Agents can be added at the veteran minimum of $1/1 year. Recently signed players cannot be traded until Day 4 of the regular season.

Rookie Contracts are available to any player drafted by a team in the 1st round. Rights are available to the drafting team only, but do transfer in the event of a trade. If a team decides to not sign a Rookie that they drafted, the player will be run through Waivers, and if the player is not claimed, they will be released to the Unrestricted Free Agent pool. The salary scale for Rookie Contracts is based on draft position for the player, as follows:

1st round, top 8 pick: 4 years, $8 + $1 raise per year ($38 total)
1st round, picks 9 - 18: 4 years, $6 + $1 raise per year ($30 total)
1st round, picks 19 - 27: 4 years, $4 + $1 raise per year ($22 total)
2nd round: 4 years, $2 ($8 total)

Rookie Extensions are only available to 1st round draft picks, and only the team that drafted them have the rights to this kind of extension. These rights are included if the player is traded. 2nd round draft picks are sent to Restricted Free Agency for extension. Also, each team can only have TWO active Rookie Extension contracts valid at the same time. If a team decides to not extend the player with this contract type, or already has two active Rookie Extensions, they must send the player to Restricted Free Agency. The salary scale for Rookie Extensions are as follows:

1st round, top 8 pick: 3 years, $18 + $1 raise per year ($57 total)
1st round, picks 9 - 30: 3 years, $14 per year ($42 total)

Max Contract Extensions are only available to those with Rookie Extensions in place. If a team decides to not use a Max Extension on a player, that player will become an Unrestricted Free Agent, able to sign with the highest bidding team. The salary scale for Max Extensions is as follows:

3 years, $40 per year ($120 total)

** UNLESS A PLAYER HAS A 'ROOKIE CONTRACT' TAG OR '2ND ROUNDER' TAG, THEY WILL HAVE TO BE RE-SIGNED IN UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY ONCE THEIR CONTRACT IS UP. **

VERY IMPORTANT: Only TWO active Rookie Extensions are allowed per team at one time. Rookie Extensions can be re-structured if necessary, either by sending them to Restricted Free Agency, or by converting them to Max Extensions before the year the extension expires.

PROGRESSIONS:

This league will use random progressions, performed during the offseason. Player progression will peak at 28, flat from 29 - 30, and start to decline at age 31. Potential levels in this league are as follows, from best to worst: S, C, U, F.

ROOKIE DRAFT:

The draft will consist of two rounds, with real draft classes for that year being imported. Potential ratings for each player imported will be set at random. The draft lottery format will follow along historically, and match the lottery style of the NBA for that year. Non-Lottery team drafting order will be decided by record. Order will repeat for round 2. Any undrafted rookies will go into the Free Agency pool.

Top 3 picks automatically get C potential grade applied following draft, and can receive one stat change in their career to the current game year. This stat change does not transfer to new owner in the event of a trade, waiver claim, or FA signing - only the drafting team can use it. Each team may cut any draft pick from that year for free, as long as they do it before Unrestricted Free Agency.

TRADE FAIRNESS:

Trades may include players and picks (up to 3 years ahead), and are subject to commish approval for fairness. If a trade is deemed unfair, it will be vetoed. This will only come into play with extremely lop-sided cases, which would usually be a player trying to take advantage of another player. Traded picks can be protected, meaning that the pick-trading team can keep a pick if it falls within their protected range, and instead, trade away the rights to their 1st round pick the following year.

Salary Cap and Stat Changes are not allowed to be included in trades.

FREE AGENCY:

In-season Free Agency is simple - sign any available player from the Free Agents tab on a 1 year/ $1 contract. Meaning, they are yours for the rest of the season. The Free Agency pool will be populated by dropped players, and unsigned rookies/veterans on a yearly basis. Total contract amount will decide the leading bid, and where total amounts match, less years on the contract will win. Players signed in Free Agency cannot be traded until after Day 1 of the season.

IMPORTANT: In all stages of Free Agency, bids are binding and final, and will not be deleted/retracted, so please be careful when you bid. Also, bids cannot be contingent on the failure or success of another active bid.

In the offseason, Free Agency will take place in two stages: Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agency:

Restricted Free Agency:

The teams of these Free Agents will have the chance to match other teams’ best offers, in efforts to re-sign them. Once the RFA period opens, teams (including the team that hopes to re-sign) will have 24 hours to send in their offers to the commish. One more round of bids will happen, limited to the teams who bid on the player in round 1, and then the largest bid is decided as the leading bid. The player’s original team will then have 24 hours to match the leading bid or let the player go to the highest bidding team. The minimum yearly amount for any bid is $2.

Unrestricted Free Agency:

Unrestricted Free Agency will be a live bidding process, using a form and leaderboard. You may bid as often as you’d like, within your cap space and roster limit. There is no maximum amount you can offer a Free Agent, but standard contract limits still apply - max of 4 years and max raise/decrease of $5, year over year. Minimum contract offer amount per year is $2. A player signs when a team has been the high bidder for 48 hours. Bidding will continue until interest drops and most players have been signed. Unsigned players will be dropped into the Free Agent pool for the following year.

Examples:

Player A was a 1st round pick and was on his last year of a Rookie Contract (he will be tagged as such in the section below where the players are listed per team). His team can either offer him the appropriate Rookie Extension for his draft slot, or they can decline, and send him to Restricted Free Agency.

Player B was a 2nd round pick and was on the last year of his Rookie Contract (this player is tagged as a 2nd Rounder, and a 2nd round draft pick will be noted in their player bio). This player will not be eligible for a Rookie Extension, and will go to Restricted Free Agency.

Player C was not on a Rookie Contract/Extension (1st or 2nd rounder), but was on the final year of his contract. He will go to Unrestricted Free Agency.

WAIVERS/CUTS:

All players will go through waivers when released, before being cut, outright. If another team would like to claim the player off of waivers, they’ll have 24/48 hours to make a claim, and if successful, they must assume the remaining salary on the player’s contract. The Waiver claim priority order is decided by reverse standings at the time of the claim. Neither the team placing the player on waivers, or the team who claims the player can back out once the moves have been made. If a player goes through waivers without a claim, they become an Unrestricted Free Agent, and will be placed into the Free Agent pool. The team who cut the player will still be responsible for 50% of the contract. Also, that team cannot re-sign that particular player until the following offseason.

INJURIES/DAYS OFF:

Injuries will last for a maximum of 10 games. They will not carry over from season to season.

Days off will be given as follows:
5 days for All-Star Break
3 days between regular season and start of playoffs
1 day between playoff rounds

OFFSEASON TRAINING:

There will be two programs available for the offseason if you’d like to improve your player’s potential ratings or stamina:

Circuit Training: This training can be used by a team to give any one player under contract a boost their Minutes per Game (stamina). The outcome of this training can range from 3 to 4 extra minutes on the player’s Minutes per Game attribute, with 3 being the most common result (25% chance of 4 mins/gm added).

One-on-Ones: Use this training to boost the Potential of one player by one level. Potential levels in this league are as follows, from best to worst: S, C, U, F.

Please note, a player can only take part in one program or the other - they cannot use both in the same offseason.

STAT CHANGES:

During the offseason, I will randomly choose 8 random teams that will be allowed to make a stat change for one player. The change must be to the current year's stats only (in-game). The choices will be made with an online wheel, and will be totally random, with all teams having the same chances to win.

EXPANSION:

We will be including expansion teams, and will be holding an expansion draft to help fill the new teams prior to their debut season. Expansion will occur during the same years that they occurred, historically. To fill these teams, we will add owners when the time comes.

EXPANSION DRAFT:

In years where expansion occurs, we will hold an Expansion Draft in the off-season prior to the new teams' debut. For the draft pool, each team can protect nine (9) players on their roster. Anyone other than the protected players will be available for the new team(s) to draft.

Expansion team(s) will choose a player from each team, alternating order if there is more than one expansion team. No team can lose more than one player to the expansion draft. Contracts and tags carry over from team to team in this draft.

CHANGES FOR EXPANSION IN 1995 AND BEYOND:
Teams can protect 8 players, instead of 9. Also, mandatory number of rounds drafted for expansion teams is increased to 6, from 4.

OWNER INACTIVITY:

If an owner is inactive for more than 30 days, the commish will remove them from the league, replacing them as quickly as possible. If this occurs during the season, the commish may manage the team minimally to keep the league running smoothly. If this occurs during the offseason, the commish may pause briefly to fill the spot.

TANKING/LOSING ON PURPOSE FOR IMPROVED DRAFT SPOTS, ETC.:

Tanking will simply not be permitted. It’s your responsibility to field the best team possible, per your long term strategy. Please report concerns, and the commish will be monitoring the league for these situations. If it happens, the offending team (and any other teams involved) will be immediately removed.

If you have any other questions, please let me know. Thanks!

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	1987 - 2022
Roster Size	15
Min Active Players	8
Max Active Players	12
Keepers	(15 keepers)
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Injuries	(10 games max)
Player Training
User Sims