NBA Preseason DFS Strategy: 7 Tips for DraftKings
NBA preseason DFS can easily be where your DraftKings bankroll goes to die. In that same breath, it can be a spot where you find a real edge and beef up your cash before a long season of NBA DFS. The short version of a winning preseason approach: chase minutes, track news right up to lock, price value with fantasy points per minute, and treat every projection with more suspicion than you would in January.
The choice is yours, because you decide how aggressive you want to be with NBA preseason DFS contests. It’s risky, but the edge is real, and I’ve got seven tips that should help round out a winning NBA DFS preseason strategy.
Ready to win in NBA preseason DFS? Here are my top seven tips to consider before playing a single contest at DraftKings.
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When the 2026 NBA Preseason Runs
Training camps opened September 29, 2026. Preseason games run from October 3 through October 16, 2026, and the regular season tips off October 20, 2026. That gives you roughly two weeks of exhibition slates to work with.
7 NBA Preseason DFS Tips at a Glance
The best NBA preseason DFS strategy starts with playing time and works outward from there. Here are the seven tips covered below:
- Prioritize projected minutes: Make sure your players are playing, then favor the ones who will play the most.
- Don’t treat preseason like the regular season: Nobody is trying to win these games.
- Target players with something to play for: Position battles and evaluations create volume.
- Monitor preseason news: Late scratches and rotation changes decide slates.
- Use fantasy points per minute to find value: FPPM times projected minutes is your base projection.
- Be careful paying for stars: Big names on limited minutes rarely return their salary.
- Embrace uncertainty in tournaments: Chaos creates leverage against the field.
1. Prioritize Projected Minutes
Step one of any NBA preseason DFS strategy? Make sure the guys you roster are actually playing, and prioritize the ones who will play the most.
Minutes are the lifeblood of NBA DFS, but they’re even more important in preseason, when playing time is harder to come by and also tough to gauge.
But before we can care about how much guys will play, just make sure they’re playing at all. I don’t want to say never play bench players, but confirmed starters do make life easier in this regard.
That said, paying attention to the following should give you a good idea of who will play and for how long:
- Beat writer reports
- Injury news
- Roster activity
- Coachspeak
- Past rotation history
You can’t accurately project how well your NBA preseason DFS lineup will do if you can’t wrap your head around who is on the floor and how many minutes they might play. This 100% has to be the starting point for any successful NBA DFS preseason strategy.
2. Don’t Treat Preseason Like the Regular Season
Step two? Embrace the fact that NBA DFS and NBA preseason DFS are not the same. Yes, the actual game of basketball is played the same (kind of), and the rosters and scoring don’t change.
However, there are so many other wrinkles to consider: narrative, pressure, matchups, coaching, minutes, usage and more. The skinny: none of it matters all that much. Nobody cares about winning these games, so the priority is to exit the game healthy, develop young talent and prepare the starters for the regular season.
The motive can and will change from game to game, too. Some games will focus on getting the right rotations going or featuring new players, while others will be all about preparing a rookie for the rigors of The Association.
None of this is the same product you’re accustomed to playing. It’s much more volatile, it’s unpredictable, it’s messier, and it’s even more frustrating. Football players run into the same problem every August, which is why our NFL preseason DFS strategy guide leans on many of the same principles. To prepare for the madness, consider this simple NBA preseason DFS hierarchy in terms of importance:
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The Preseason Priority Order
Minutes → Role → Usage → Matchup
Knowing which team allows the most fantasy points to point guards isn’t particularly helpful if the point guard you’re considering only plays 15 minutes. Focusing too much on a player’s usage from last year may not matter when the player has a different role now, either.
Control what you can control, but go in knowing that this isn’t just regular NBA DFS.
3. Target Players with Something to Play For
Target players who have a real reason to see more volume or extra minutes in the preseason. Narrative is a hell of a drug. It should almost never be the tipping point for your process, but completely ignoring it can also be dangerous.
In this context, we’re not talking about revenge games or a player’s birthday. Rather, we’re talking about players who have an actual reason to play well during the preseason, or a reason to get more volume and extra minutes. Here are a few situations to consider:
- Starting-job battles: Players competing for a spot in the opening five
- Open rotation minutes: Bench roles that are still up for grabs
- Evaluations: Rookies and young players the team wants a long look at
- Expanded backups: High-usage reserves getting more work while starters rest
There are a litany of reasons a player may see a role or minutes boost, so don’t overlook them when deciding who to play and who to fade.
4. Monitor Preseason News
NBA preseason DFS requires more attention to news than a typical regular-season slate. Should this tip be listed higher? If this list of NBA DFS preseason tips were a ranking, sure. But it’s certainly important, regardless.
News is always vital in every DFS sport. However, it’s even more important in fringe genres like the preseason or NBA Summer League DFS. The reality is that news is much harder to come by, so stockpiling reliable sources and scanning them leading into lock is crucial to your success. I can’t tell you how many times I had a gem of a lineup that was ruined by a late scratch.
Make sure you prioritize the following information:
- Confirmed starters
- Expected minutes
- Players resting
- Injuries
- Rotation changes
- Coach comments
- Beat reporter observations
The closer the information is to game time, the more useful it can be. NBA.com posts today’s NBA starting lineups as teams confirm them, which makes it a good final check before lock. To be clear, as important as this information is, it won’t always be readily available, and sometimes reports will be unreliable or conflicting.
Gather up as many credible sources as possible, then shrink your player pool and make lineup decisions based on how reliable the news is.
5. Use Fantasy Points per Minute to Find Value
The best way to find preseason value is to multiply a player’s fantasy points per minute (FPPM) by his projected minutes. Sometimes Summer League or preseason contests won’t require you to fit a salary cap, and in those spots player value is a lot easier to gauge.
When NBA preseason DFS contests do have salary restrictions, such as a DraftKings Classic lineup that fits eight players (PG, SG, SF, PF, C, G, F and UTIL) under a $50,000 cap, you have to know how to price value. Marrying FPPM with projected minutes identifies that value, and it also gives you base projections, floors and ceilings.
Not sure how to figure out what a player projects for? Just use this simple formula:
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The Base Projection Formula
Projected minutes × FPPM = projected fantasy points. Example: 27 minutes × 1.05 FPPM = 28.35 fantasy points.
Here’s how that math can reorder three hypothetical players once minutes enter the picture:
| Player | Projected Minutes | FPPM | Base Projection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player A (starter) | 27 | 1.05 | 28.35 FP |
| Player B (expanded backup) | 32 | 0.85 | 27.20 FP |
| Player C (resting star) | 18 | 1.30 | 23.40 FP |
The player with the best FPPM projects the lowest here, purely because of minutes. The actual minutes will depend on the game or slate, but FPPM should be fairly stable and come from the previous season or several seasons of proven data.
You can also skip the math by using NBA DFS projections or a DFS lineup optimizer. Both are highly recommended for every DFS genre, but they’re admittedly less useful (or at least shouldn’t be taken as gospel) in a high-variance genre like NBA preseason DFS.
6. Be Careful Paying for Stars
Pay for stars in preseason only after confirming they’re starting and getting real minutes. It feels good to roster players you know, and there’s a sense of familiarity and safety that comes with it, but there’s no such thing as a safe play in preseason DFS.
That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t roster NBA superstars. It just means you shouldn’t play them blindly. Trusting players based on old stats or name recognition can be dicey in any genre, but it’s even more of a trap in preseason NBA DFS contests.
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Before You Pay Up for a Star
Confirm he’s starting, check his projected minutes and any injury concerns, and read what the team’s beat writers say about his role and the team’s goals for that particular game.
7. Embrace Uncertainty in Tournaments
In preseason tournaments, the chaos is the opportunity. The old adage “embrace variance” applies to most DFS genres, but I’m not sure it’s more appropriate anywhere than it is in NBA preseason DFS. Just consider the craziness that can ensue in these contests:
- Late scratches
- Starters in name only
- First-half minutes only
- In-game benching
- In-game injuries
- Limited minutes
- Unexplained DNPs
You can’t fully trust preseason NBA DFS projections because the environment is kind of insane. Accounting for all of the above makes this a pretty volatile scene, but you can also lean into it. That means you can play players nobody else trusts, and you can fade popular plays you’re not as high on as the field is.
Eating chalk can be good in DFS, but in NBA preseason DFS, fading the chalk can be a very lucrative strategy. Our guide to reading DFS ownership projections explains how to spot where the field is piling in. Just pick your spots and make sure your decisions are backed by logic or reports.
NBA Preseason DFS Checklist
Before locking in a preseason DFS lineup, ask yourself the following questions:
| Question | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Is the player active? | Late scratches can completely change a slate. |
| Is the player starting? | Starting can provide clues about role and minutes. |
| Has the coach discussed minutes? | Direct comments can be extremely valuable. |
| How much did the player play last game? | Previous rotations provide useful context. |
| Who is unavailable? | Absences can create additional minutes and usage. |
| What is the player’s FPPM? | Helps estimate production with additional playing time. |
| Is the salary adjusted for the player’s role? | Mispriced roles can create value. |
| Will the player handle the ball? | Playmaking opportunities can increase fantasy upside. |
Crafting a Winning NBA DFS Preseason Strategy
A winning NBA preseason DFS strategy rewards the players willing to put in the time. If you want a DFS sport where lineups lock and you can forget about your contest, or where you don’t need to follow news right up until lock (or even after), then this one isn’t for you.
There is a big edge in NBA preseason DFS for that very reason, though. A lot of players won’t take this genre seriously, which means they’ll miss crucial news, fail to jump on specific studs or value, and may not even use the late swap feature.
It’s a grind, and you need extra time to maximize your gains. If you do have the time to make sure you have the best possible lineup going into the first game’s tip, the tips above should give you a real advantage over the field. For the fundamentals that carry over to the regular season, our full DFS strategy guide covers the rest.
Play Safe: Daily fantasy should be fun, not stressful. Set limits, stick to your budget, and never chase losses. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-MY-RESET or visit ncpgambling.org. For more resources, see our Responsible Gambling page.
NBA Preseason DFS FAQ
These are the questions that come up most once the exhibition slates hit the DraftKings lobby. Here are straight answers.
What Is the Best NBA DFS Preseason Strategy?
Prioritize projected minutes, then role, usage and salary. Because playing time is less predictable during the preseason, opportunity can matter more than overall talent.
Are Starters Good Plays in NBA Preseason DFS?
They can be, but expected playing time should be valued more than the starting label. Some starters receive limited preseason minutes, which can make cheaper reserves better fantasy values.
How Many Minutes Do NBA Players Play During the Preseason?
There isn’t one standard amount. Playing time varies by team, player and stage of the preseason. Coach comments, beat writer reports and recent preseason rotations are among the best sources for estimating minutes.
Are Rookies Good for NBA Preseason DFS?
Rookies can be strong options because teams often use preseason games to evaluate them. Target rookies for their expected minutes and roles, though, not simply because they’re young.
How Important Are Minutes in NBA Preseason DFS?
Minutes are one of the most important factors in NBA preseason DFS. More playing time creates more opportunities to accumulate points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.
Should You Play NBA Stars During the Preseason?
Stars can still produce strong fantasy performances, but limited playing time can reduce their ceiling relative to salary. Check expected minutes before paying for an expensive star.
Where Can You Find NBA Preseason Starting Lineups and Minutes Information?
Team announcements, coach interviews and credible beat reporters are useful sources, and NBA.com posts confirmed starting lineups each game day. Previous preseason box scores can also show how a team is distributing playing time.
Is NBA Preseason DFS Good for Tournaments?
Yes, preseason can create interesting tournament opportunities because minutes and rotations are less certain. Identifying spots where your playing-time expectations differ from the field can create leverage.
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