The NBA season is back, and fantasy basketball players are down to the last few days to draft on ESPN NBA.com Fantasy Basketball, the official, totally free and customizable league manager-style game on ESPN.com and NBA.com.  Fantasy sports players can now participate via two of the leading NBA destinations online through a single, integrated game with access to the very best fantasy basketball content online and on mobile devices.

 The game is available now on NBA.com and ESPN.com and via the mobile Web.  Fans can manage their teams with the latest information on their players, check scores and set their lineups.  Following a record-setting season for the free manager-style fantasy game on ESPN.com (including nearly 40 times the growth in participation from the previous season) ESPN NBA.com Fantasy Basketball will allow players to create leagues and teams, schedule drafts, conduct mock drafts and more.  Other game features include:

•  Mock Draft Lobby – lets players drop in at any time to run through a draft, try out a new draft strategy or view other drafting strategies.
• Fantasy Basketball Draft Kit – provides every player’s individual rankings, division previews, sleepers and busts, mock drafts, player profiles and projections, cheat sheets, fantasy basketball video content and more – completely free.
• Champions and ESPN Insider’s Leagues–will host Champions Leagues for previous winners to challenge their knowledge against others in a winners-only league.  ESPN Insider subscribers can also face off against other members in ESPN Insider-only Leagues, with priority preference in picking their draft time.
• Multiple Draft Options – teams and leagues can draft in multiple ways, including:
  • Online Auction Draft – the option to conduct their draft auction style – bidding against other competitors for top players, and managing a total budget for drafting their team of players.
  • Live Online Draft – the option to draft publicly or privately.  Set a time and invite friends, or drop by the Live Draft lobby to find a league, join, and draft – anytime day or night.
  • Automated Online Drafts – the option to have your league set their personal player rankings, set the draft order and date, and let the draft engine do the rest.
• Smack Boards – players can talk smack to friends and opponents throughout the week and on game day using the dynamic chat windows integrated right into league and scoring pages.
• Draft Pick Trading – players can trade draft picks in leagues with a fixed draft order.
• Player Cards 2.0 – using embedded player information cards, players can see recent news, game-by-game stats, graph views and more without leaving their own roster.
• Keeper Options – provides League Managers of existing keeper leagues the ability to transfer keeper settings by entering keepers prior to their draft. 
• Customizable Rules and Scoring – players can customize their league and scoring.
• League Message Boards, Chat and Polls – players can discuss news, create personalized polls and even chat online – directly on their league homepage.
• Mobile Team Management – allow players to manage their teams through the ESPN and NBA mobile websites.
• News, Analysis and Information – players can access a constant supply of fantasy basketball news, analysis and other features including video, columns and more.

 About ESPN and The NBA

ESPN’s comprehensive, multi-year agreement with the NBA includes wide-reaching multi-media coverage and content across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN International, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile, ESPN podcasts and additional media platforms still to be developed.  ESPN and ABC combine to televise 90 regular-season games, plus each round of the postseason – including The Finals exclusively on ABC.  ESPN Radio also offers season-long broadcasts including the regular season, postseason (including The Finals) and All-Star events.

 About NBA Digital

NBA Digital is the NBA’s extensive cross-platform portfolio of digital assets jointly managed by the NBA and Turner Sports. This robust offering includes NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA LEAGUE PASS Broadband, NBA Mobile, NBADLEAGUE.com and WNBA.com.

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