Rules & Scoring

(Last Updated 10/29/2026)

NBA Snake

In NBA snake drafts, entrants draft a lineup via a live snake draft. After the draft is completed, there is no lineup management. Prizes are paid based on cumulative fantasy points scored by each entry.

Entry and participation in each NBA snake draft must be made only as specified in the Terms of Use and these Contest Rules. Failure to comply with the Terms of Use and these Contest Rules will result in disqualification and, if applicable, prize forfeiture.

Scoring

Lineup Requirements

Lineups will consist of seven (7) players and must include players from at least two (2) different NBA teams. After the conclusion of the draft, if a player in an entrant's lineup switches teams, leaving the lineup with only players from one (1) NBA team, such lineup will be voided.

The seven (7) lineup positions are:

The highest scoring players at each lineup position are automatically the entrant's starting lineup, and the non-starting player makes up the entrant's bench. Fantasy points for the player on the bench do not count toward an entrant's fantasy point total.

Player Pool

The Player Pool will consist of players expected to be on an active roster for any NBA team at the time the Player Pool is created and may include players that are not on an NBA team at the time the Player Pool is created. Players in the Player Pool will receive fantasy points for the team they play for, regardless of any trades or transactions that may occur.

The Player Pool may include players that are not eligible, or become ineligible, to accrue fantasy points for the contest . In the event you draft any player(s) that are, or become, ineligible to accrue fantasy points for the contest, such player(s) will remain in your lineup but will not accrue any fantasy points.

Draft Start Time

Snake drafts will begin once the required number of entrants enter the draft. There will be a two-minute countdown period between the time the snake draft fills and the time the countdown begins for the first pick of the draft. The draft order is randomly determined once the draft fills. Entrants are permitted to withdraw entries prior to the draft filling.

Pick Clock

Snake drafts use a fast draft format. Entrants have thirty (30) seconds to make each pick.

Draft Requirements

To be eligible for prizes in snake draft contests, an entrant must take at least one (1) of these three (3) actions:

1. Edit the DraftKings default pre-draft player rankings
2. Add a player to their draft queue during the draft
3. Make a manual draft pick during the draft

Failure to take at least one of these actions will result in an invalid entry. Invalid entries will remain in the contest while not accruing fantasy points. Entry fees for invalid entries will not be refunded.

Pre-Draft Rankings

DraftKings provides default pre-draft player rankings. Entrants can create a personalized draft ranking by editing the DraftKings default pre-draft player rankings. The last saved version of an entrant's draft rankings are automatically imported once the draft starts. Entrants can edit their draft rankings at any time.

Auto-Draft

When auto-draft is enabled or if an entrant does not make a selection before their clock expires, DraftKings will auto-draft a player for the entrant based on the following logic and in the following order:

1. The highest ranked undrafted player from an entrant's draft queue will be automatically selected.
2. If there are no undrafted players in the entrant's draft queue and the entrant edited the DraftKings default pre-draft rankings, the highest ranked player from the entrant's edited draft rankings will be automatically selected.
3. If an entrant did not edit the DraftKings default pre-draft rankings, the highest available ranked player from the DraftKings default pre-draft rankings will be automatically selected.

Entrants can add players to the "excluded" list. Players on the excluded list will be auto-drafted only when required to create a valid lineup (i.e., if the player on the excluded list is the last remaining player for a needed position in the entrant's lineup). Players on the excluded list can be manually drafted and can be auto-drafted from the entrant's draft queue.

Auto-draft can be enabled or disabled in the draft settings. When auto-draft is enabled, auto-draft will make the selection at the beginning of an entrant's turn in the draft, and the entrant will not receive push notifications for the draft. For clarity, in the event an entrant has disabled auto-draft, but has not made a selection prior to the end of the entrant's turn, auto-draft will make a selection for the entrant at the end of the entrant's turn.

If an entrant does not make six (6) consecutive manual selections in a snake draft, auto-draft will be automatically enabled.

On certain occasions, DraftKings may "disable" players from being eligible for selection by auto-draft, including, but not limited to, players that are no longer eligible to score fantasy points. These disabled players can be manually drafted, but they will not be eligible to be auto-drafted regardless of an entrant's draft rankings or draft queue.

Draft Cancellations

DraftKings may cancel a completed draft prior to the start of the contest in its sole and absolute discretion, including, but not limited to, when necessary to protect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the contest.

If for any reason the draft does not finish before the contest starts, or cannot run as originally planned, then the draft will be canceled and entrants refunded. In the event a draft remains unfilled, DraftKings will cancel the draft and refund the entrants.

If a completed draft is canceled, the entrants will be informed with entries refunded. For more information, please see the Terms of Use.

DraftKings may disqualify or void an entry at any time, as determined by DraftKings, in its sole and absolute discretion, for any reason or no reason, including, without limitation, if an entry corrupts or affects the fairness, integrity, security, or proper conduct of a contest.

Disqualified or invalid entries will not earn fantasy points or be eligible for prizes, and entry fees will not be refunded.

Scheduling Changes

This section is meant to cover how DraftKings will deal with disruptions to the NBA season. However, because of the unpredictability of scheduling disruptions, DraftKings reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to amend these rules based on how specific situations may play out.

The "Scoring Period" for an NBA snake draft contest is defined as the timeframe between the scheduled start date and time (as of the contest's posting) of the first game within the contest's Game Set and 11:59 pm prevailing eastern time on the first Sunday after the scheduled start date (as of the contest's posting) of the last game within the contest's Game Set. DraftKings may, in its sole and absolute discretion, adjust the Scoring Period to accommodate canceled, postponed, rescheduled, or interrupted games.

Canceled Games

In the event that a game in the contest’s Game Set is canceled before such game starts, such game will be disabled from the contest’s Game Set, and players in that game will not be eligible to accrue any fantasy points.

A game is deemed to be canceled once the status of the game is updated to canceled by DraftKings’ third-party stats-provider.

Postponed and Rescheduled Games

In the event that the start date of a game in the contest’s Game Set is postponed or rescheduled after the contest is posted:

1. If the game starts within the contest’s Scoring Period, and is not interrupted (as reported by DraftKings third party stat provider), such game will remain in the contest’s Game Set, and players in that game will be eligible to accrue fantasy points.
2. If the game starts within the contest’s Scoring Period but is interrupted (as reported by DraftKings third party stat provider), fantasy points accrued in that game will be counted in accordance with the Interrupted Games section below.
3. If the game starts outside of the contest’s Scoring Period, such game will be disabled from the contest’s Game Set, and players in that game will not be eligible to accrue any fantasy points.

In the event that game cancellation(s), postponement(s), and/or rescheduling result in a contest’s Game Set including only one (1) game, such contest will be canceled and entry fees refunded.

Interrupted Games

In the event DraftKings third party stat provider reports that a game in the contest’s Game Set is “interrupted” after the game starts:

1. Fantasy points accrued in that game before the game was first declared interrupted will count for contest scoring.
2. If the game is resumed before the end of the contest’s Scoring Period, fantasy points accrued in that game after the interruption (but before any subsequent interruption where the game is not resumed before the end of the contest’s Scoring Period) will count for contest scoring.
3. If the game is declared interrupted and not resumed until after the end of the contest’s Scoring Period, fantasy points accrued in that game after such interruption will not count for contest scoring.

Scoring and Stat Corrections

Live scoring updates are strictly for the enjoyment of DraftKings’ customers.

On occasion, official scorers may issue a stat-correction after DraftKings’ scoring validation process has been completed. After DraftKings’ scoring validation process is completed, scoring will not change regardless of any official statistics or scoring adjustments made at later times or dates.

If a correction needs to be made after the scoring and validation process is finalized due to an error with the data feed or the scoring and validation process, while extremely rare, DraftKings may, in its sole and absolute discretion, for any reason or no reason, reverse and/or recalculate the scoring and validation process.