FAQ

Short answers. The longer versions are on how to play and ratings and grades.

Is this an official NBA game?

No. Hoops Redraft is a fan project run by SHABU PTY LTD. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the NBA, the NBPA, any team, or any player. Clubs are shown by city. The player file is names, seasons and box-score ratings, assembled from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons licence named on the home page.

Do I need an account?

No. A run is saved in your browser and stays there. Clearing this site's data deletes it. There is no cloud copy of the squad. The email box on the home page is optional, and it is only for a note when something new ships. What that address is used for is on the privacy page.

Which years can I start?

1976-77 through 2020-21. The file continues through 2025-26, but a start year has to leave room for five seasons, which is the shortest campaign the menu treats as a full run. The one-season option is a way in, inside those years. It does not add 2021 or later as start years. If a length button is missing, the file does not have that many seasons left from the year you picked.

Why is the board in real draft order, not best first?

Because a board sorted by the rating would be a button. The top row would always be the right answer, and the draft would be over before you read a name. Real order is the consensus of that year, and the consensus was wrong often enough to make a game. You are allowed to know what happened next. The other clubs, when they pick, are not.

Why is a famous rookie missing, or rated like a veteran?

If he has no season in the file for his draft year, a plain rule would drop him from the board. 416 drafted players are in that spot. For their own draft year only, the board shows their earliest rating instead. Bird in 1978 is shown at his 1979 number, 72. Jokić in 2014 is shown at his 2015 number, 70. He is not given a made-up rookie line. If a man is missing entirely, he is not in the file. The game does not invent a player to fill a gap.

Can the other clubs see the future?

No. A rival's trades and picks are not allowed to use a later season's rating. Trades look at a man's best rating from the last three seasons, his age, and whether he fits a hole, plus that club's record and payroll. If a future rating could change an offer, the league would only ever call you with the deals that hurt. The premise is that you know things they do not.

What does cutting a player do?

It frees a roster spot. It does not give you another draft pick. A full list cannot use a pick it has no room to house, so releasing someone is how you make room. It is not a way to redraft the whole class. The spot can be filled in the draft or in free agency, under the same cap as everyone else.

Should I play with contracts on?

They start on, and you can turn them off once, at setup. On adds salaries, the cap, and the trade window, up to three calls a summer. Off removes all of that. The two are different games. The grade bands were checked on both. Pick the one you want to think about. You cannot switch mid-run, including in a shared challenge, because two people have to be playing the same rules.

Why did I finish 50-32 and get a bad grade?

The letter is against that club's real record, not against .500. A club that really won a title, or really won 60, can make a solid simulated season look ordinary. Titles move the grade more than wins do. One extra title you did not earn, or one real title you failed to match, is a large swing at any length. Short real seasons are scaled up to 82 games before the comparison, so you are not marked down for playing a full schedule against a lockout year, and you are not marked up for it either.

A one-season grade felt like a coin toss. Is it?

One season does not measure the draft. The men you just took have not had a career yet, and a man drafted for his peak is no help to a year he is not great in. The grade still uses the same bands as a long run. It is mostly the side you inherited and how you handled the summer. Five seasons is the length that gives the draft time to matter.

Where do ads appear?

On the website, a display ad can appear on the screen before a run starts, and on the summary when a run ends. There are no ads during the draft, the season or the playoffs, and none next to the controls. The iOS and Android apps use a different ad setup, described on the privacy page, including the one-time Remove Ads purchase in those apps. The website does not sell that.

Something broke. What should I send?

Email support@hoopsredraft.com. The version line in the footer, the year and the club, and what you expected to happen are enough. The contact page has the rest. A crash report may already have gone out on its own: the error, roughly where in the game it happened, the version, and the window size. It does not include the run.