Your first season

FTG Basketball is a basketball GM game that you play in your browser at basketball.ftgsports.net. It is the newest of the three games. It uses real NBA player history from 1976-77 on, played by fictional teams. You run one team through an 82-game season.

Read the Basics pages first for sign-in, leagues, drafts, trades and free agents. The pages in this section cover what is specific to basketball.

First steps

The league shows a Getting started card with five steps while you are new. Every new club opens with 3 two-way players, and about 45 free agents remain in the pool. In a league that starts in the offseason, the card lists the winter steps instead: Claim your team, Scout the draft board, Make your picks, Sign free agents, and Set your season budget when the season opens. For a league that starts on opening night, a good order is:

1. Go to basketball.ftgsports.net and claim your team. Create a league, or join one with an invite, then pick the one team you will run all season. See Leagues and Run your season. To start a league from a custom roster file, see Custom rosters.
2. Set your rotation: five starters and a minutes plan. See Your team.
3. Scan the player pool. See Players and news.
4. Run your first sim. If you are the commissioner of a league you run by hand, press Advance 1 day (on a phone the button reads Advance). If you are a GM in someone else's manual league, prepare your rotation and wait for the commissioner. In a scheduled league, check when the first sim runs. See Leagues and Run your season.
5. Invite a friend. The commissioner has the invite link. See League rules and the commissioner. A demo league has no Invite step, so its card lists four.

After that, look at Free agency, Trades, and Scouting and the draft.

Try it without an account

The home page has a Play a demo league button. A demo needs no account. A demo league is deleted after 7 idle days. A keep bar sits above every screen of a demo league. Select Keep this league on the bar, or in the account menu, then sign in. See Accounts and signing in.

The home page also has a Learn the game. panel. It links to How to play, FAQ and Glossary.

Send feedback

The Send feedback button is in the top bar. On a phone it is in the club header, next to ?. The header also shows the game switcher, your crest, and your record, streak and standing. Use it to report something broken or to suggest an idea.

1. Choose Something is broken or I have an idea.
2. Type a line in In one line. It needs at least 5 characters.
3. Add more in Anything else if you want. This box is optional.
4. Select Send.

The league, the screen and the build go with the report. The form has no screenshot field and no email field, so you get no reply by email. A guest in a demo league can send feedback too. For the general steps, see Sending feedback.

All basketball pages

• Run your season: the Dashboard, the standings, the playoffs and the offseason.
• Your team: the roster, the rotation, the front office, the season budget and the outlook.
• Players and news: the player list, the news feed and your notes.
• Scouting and the draft: the scouting budget, the draft board and the draft queue.
• Free agency: talks in season, sealed bids in the offseason.
• Trades: building a deal, the trade block and the deadline.
• Pick trades: trading draft picks, protections and the Stepien rule.
• Leaders, records and awards: league leaders, award races and the record book.
• League rules and the commissioner: how to read your league's rules and the commissioner controls.
• Custom rosters: start a league from a roster file.