Who is the greatest
fantasy basketball
player ever?
I scored every NBA season back to 1950-51 in a Yahoo default points league and ran four rounds: best season, best career, most fantasy titles and how dominant you were. The fantasy GOAT is Wilt Chamberlain, with 96.7 out of 100.
Watch all four rounds play out in the video.
How Wilt won it
Each round is worth 25 points. The round winner gets all 25, and everyone else gets points based on how close they came.
The best single season
Fantasy points per game, adjusted to the same pace (per 100 possessions), because teams in the sixties played much faster.
The best career
Every fantasy point a player ever scored, pace-adjusted. LeBron has played more games than anyone in NBA history.
Most fantasy titles
Seasons a player finished No. 1 in total fantasy points.
Most dominant
When a player finished No. 1, how far ahead of No. 2 was he? Average lead, for players with at least two titles.
Top 100 fantasy players ever
Tap a column to sort. Best season is pace-adjusted fantasy points per 100 possessions. Current players link to their stats page.
A dead heat
Fantasy basketball went online in October 1996. Count only the seasons since then, and Garnett, LeBron and Jokić are within two points of each other.
The category king: Michael Jordan
Nine-category value (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, threes, FG%, FT%, turnovers), 3-point era only (1979-80 on), so nobody is punished for a shot that didn't exist yet.
Best single season Best careerShawn Marion's 2005-06 is the fourth-best category season ever, because he did a little bit of everything.
Who to take first this year
It's basically a coin flip. If Jokić finishes first again, that's his seventh fantasy title, tying LeBron.
Share of 10,000 simulations in which each player finishes No. 1 in total fantasy points.
Right only half the time
Number = where the No. 1 pick in ESPN drafts actually finished, ranked on points-league and category value combined. Anthony Davis went first in 2015-16 and finished outside the top 15.
Each year's fantasy No. 1
The player with the most total fantasy points each season, and how far ahead of second place he finished. In 1995-96, the year the Bulls went 72-10, it was David Robinson.
How the model works
Score every season
Every NBA player-season from 1950-51 to 2025-26, in Yahoo's default points league: a point is worth 1, a rebound 1.2, an assist 1.5, a steal or block 3, and a turnover costs 1.
Fill in the stats nobody counted
The NBA didn't track steals or blocks until 1973-74, or turnovers until 1977-78. I learned the patterns from modern players (rebound-heavy big men block more shots, players with the ball a lot turn it over more) and used them to estimate the old seasons.
Check the estimates
I tested them on seasons where the real numbers are known. On average they were off by about a quarter of a steal, block or turnover a game.
Adjust for pace
Teams in the sixties had far more possessions, so more shots and rebounds to go around. Rounds 1 and 2 put every season on the same pace (per 100 possessions).
Run four rounds
Best season, best career, most fantasy titles and dominance. Each round is worth 25 points, scored relative to the round winner, for a total out of 100.
Is it just the estimates?
The estimates have one weak spot: they probably underrate the best shot-blockers ever, like Bill Russell (about 2.3 blocks a game in my estimate, while historians guess 6 to 8).
Seasons need at least 70% of games played to count in Round 1. Data: Basketball-Reference and NBA.com; ESPN average draft position for the No. 1 pick history.