NBA DFS Glossary: Terms Every Player Should Know

Contests and formats

Payout details differ by site and contest, so read them before you enter.

• GPP: guaranteed prize pool, a tournament that usually pays roughly the top 20 to 25 percent of entries, with most of the prize money concentrated at the very top.
• Cash game: a contest that pays a flat prize to about half the field or to the winner of a one-on-one matchup. Double Ups, 50/50s and head-to-heads are cash games.
• Double Up: a cash contest where a bit under half the field wins double the entry fee. The share is below half because the site keeps a fee.
• 50/50: a cash contest where exactly half the field wins, and each prize is a bit under double the entry fee.
• H2H: head-to-head, a contest between two entries where the higher score takes the prize.
• Single-entry: a contest that allows one lineup per person.
• Multi-entry: a contest that allows several lineups per person, up to a stated maximum.
• Entry fee: the cost to enter a contest.
• Field size: the number of entries in a contest. Larger fields make top finishes harder.
• Min-cash: the lowest finish that still earns a payout.
• Overlay: when a contest’s guaranteed prize pool is larger than the entry fees collected, because it did not fill.

Slates, locks and swaps

• Slate: the set of games a contest covers.
• Main slate: the largest slate of the day, usually including most or all of the night’s games.
• Lock: the moment a player’s slot can no longer be edited, which happens when his game starts.
• Late swap: changing a player before his own game locks, even if other games have started.
• Salary cap: the maximum total salary for a lineup, $50,000 on DraftKings NBA Classic.
• UTIL: the utility slot, which accepts a player at any position.
• G: the guard slot, open to PG or SG eligible players.
• F: the forward slot, open to SF or PF eligible players.

Player outcomes and projections

None of these numbers is a promise. They are ways to talk about a range of possible results, and the actual result can land anywhere inside or outside that range.

• Projection: an estimate of the fantasy points a player will score. It is not a promise.
• Floor: a realistic bad night for a player.
• Ceiling: a realistic big night for a player.
• p10 / p90: the 10th and 90th percentile of a player’s simulated outcomes. In the model’s simulations, about 10 percent fall below p10 and about 10 percent land above p90.
• Value: how much production a player offers relative to his salary.
• Points per $1K: projected points divided by salary in thousands, a common value measure.
• Minutes: the time a player is on the floor, the main driver of fantasy production.
• Usage rate: the share of a team’s possessions that end with a player’s shot, free throws or turnover while he is on the floor.
• Pace: how many possessions a team plays per 48 minutes. Faster games create more opportunities for stats.
• Correlation: the tendency for two players’ outcomes to move together, such as teammates in a high-scoring game.

Availability and news

The first four are official NBA injury report statuses. The last two are common shorthand.

• Out: an official status meaning the player will not play.
• Doubtful: an official status meaning unlikely to play.
• Questionable: an official status meaning uncertain to play.
• Probable: an official status meaning likely to play.
• GTD: game-time decision, a player whose availability will not be known until close to tip-off.
• DNP: did not play.

Game environment

• Spread: the expected margin of victory in a game, set by sportsbooks.
• Game total (over/under): the expected combined score of both teams.
• Implied team total: the points a team is expected to score, derived from the spread and the game total.
• Blowout risk: the chance that a game becomes lopsided, causing starters to sit in the fourth quarter.

Lineup strategy

• Ownership: the share of lineups in a contest that include a player.
• Chalk: a highly owned, popular player.
• Contrarian: a strategy or player choice that goes against the crowd.
• Leverage: choosing players who are good plays but less owned than their quality suggests.
• Fade: to avoid a player, often a popular one.
• Stack: using multiple players from the same team or game in one lineup.
• Punt: filling a slot with a minimum- or near-minimum-salary player to afford stars elsewhere.
• Exposure: the percentage of your lineups that include a player.
• Lock (player lock in an optimizer): a rule that forces a player into every lineup.

See it in TipoffLab DFS

Every player on the main slate gets a projection, projected minutes, a floor and ceiling, value per $1,000 of salary and projected ownership, in one sortable table that keeps updating until lock.

Player PoolNov 4, 2026 · sample view

Search playersAllPGSGSFPFCFiltersColumns

Player	Salary	Proj	Val/1K	Own%	Floor	Ceil	Proj min
CNikola JokicDEN v TOR	$12,300	61.6	5.01x	13.3%	53.0	67.9	36.0	+ Lock
PGShai Gilgeous-AlexanderOKC v CLE	$10,300	53.1	5.16x	9.5%	46.5	60.1	34.6	+ Lock
PFAnthony DavisWAS v ATL	$8,400	48.4	5.76x	18.5%	40.2	55.5	32.5	Locked
PGJalen BrunsonNYK v CHI	$8,100	46.4	5.73x	19.1%	39.2	51.0	34.8	+ Lock
PGCade CunninghamDET v PHI	$9,300	45.2	4.86x	5.1%	40.0	52.0	33.7	+ Lock
CJoel EmbiidPHI v DET	$9,000	45.1	5.01x	5.2%	38.0	53.6	32.5	Excluded
SFScottie BarnesTOR v DEN	$8,600	43.5	5.06x	11.0%	37.4	51.5	31.3	+ Lock
PGJeremiah FearsNOP v UTA	$6,600	39.7	6.02x	16.3%	31.6	46.8	31.3	+ Lock
SFSaddiq BeyNOP v UTA	$6,100	34.8	5.70x	23.6%	28.2	40.7	32.3	Locked
SGKyshawn GeorgeWAS v ATL	$5,500	30.5	5.55x	15.2%	23.4	37.2	29.5	+ Lock

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