FTG Basketball FAQ
Straight answers about FTG Basketball: cost, real players, solo or with friends, how the sim plays a game, and how the cap, draft, trades and free agency work.
Is FTG Basketball free?
Yes. No ads, no purchases, nothing locked.
Do I need to download anything?
No. It runs in a desktop or phone browser. There is no app to install.
Do I need an account?
Not to try it. The demo league on the home page builds a full season with no sign-in. To keep a league of your own, sign in with Google or with a link sent to your email.
Are these real NBA teams?
No. FTG Basketball plays with thirty invented clubs, each with its own city, name and colours. No NBA team names, logos or marks. The players are real: every one of them played in the NBA, and their careers come from the real record.
Will a player be as good as he was in real life?
Close, not exact. A real career sets the starting point, and each league gives every player his own swing up or down. Stars are still more likely to be stars. Every player is adjusted to the pace of the league he plays in, and a league can also move players from before 1980 toward the modern shot mix.
Can I play with friends?
Yes. Create a league and send the invite link. Play solo against 29 AI front offices, or fill as many clubs with people as you like.
How long does a season take?
That is up to the league. On manual pace the commissioner advances when everyone is ready, so a season can go in an evening. On a schedule the league advances on its own, as often as once a day, and a season runs for weeks.
How does the sim play a game?
Possession by possession, about 200 a game. A player takes a shot because he chose to, it goes in or it does not, and somebody gets the rebound. The box score adds up from those possessions. Nothing is filled in after the fact. The same league and season always produce the same results, whatever pace you advance at.
How does the salary cap work?
A soft cap, the NBA kind. A club under the cap can sign anyone up to its space. Any club can always sign a minimum contract. Payroll over the tax line pays a luxury tax that climbs the further over you go, and a club that paid tax in three of the last four seasons pays half again. A league can also turn on a hard cap at the tax line when it is created.
How does the draft work?
Fourteen teams that missed the playoffs enter the lottery and the top four picks are drawn on the real odds. The draft is two rounds, sixty picks. Prospects come from players who have not entered the league yet, from every era, and invented prospects fill in as the real ones run out. The board shows the consensus, and the consensus can be wrong. Scouting looks give you your own read.
How does free agency work?
Six rounds. Each round every club places its bids, and a player signs with the best offer that meets his price. If nobody meets it, his price drops for the next round. By the last round any club can sign him for the minimum.
How do trades work?
Pick players and draft picks from both sides and send it. Each AI club weighs the deal against its own needs and outlook and gives a reason when it says no. You can protect a first-round pick for up to three seasons. Trades close at the deadline, 60 percent of the way through the schedule.
Do the players care how I treat them?
Yes. Every player has a mood. Minutes, the team record and promises you keep or break all move it. A happy player signs for less in a contract talk. An unhappy one holds out for more, and a broken promise can stop him re-signing at all.
Does anybody judge my work?
Your owner does. Each season the owner sets goals for your club, such as a win total or playing time for young players. Meet them and the owner backs you. Miss them and the pressure builds.
Who makes this?
FTG Sports, a small independent studio. FTG Sports also makes a baseball GM sim and a football GM sim that work the same way.