ONCE AGAIN
Season XVIII · 2026–27 · 20 teams · $8,000 pot
Vetoes, timing and risk
Trades are posted automatically. When a trade is accepted on ESPN it appears in the Trade Room within minutes, titled and timed by the system. The old manual poll — the five-minute window, the title format rules and the double-poll fine — no longer applies. Nobody has to post anything.
12 vetoes take a trade down.
Voting closes 30 minutes before the 24-hour window ends, counted from when the trade was first accepted. If you believe you voted in time, the GM who voted last must send the commissioner a screenshot.
A team must wait one week (7 days) before trading a free agent it just picked up. Waiver pickups are eligible to be traded at any time.
If a player is injured during the review period, the GM receiving that player may cancel the trade without fault.
If you are trading for a player who is already injured (DTD or O), you take on the full risk of that player regardless of any updated timeline.
Changed your mind after accepting? You have 30 minutes to alert the commissioner, or to show proof you tried to reach him if he is not immediately available.
Extended trade review. Any two teams who exceed more than five trades with each other during the season enter an extended review of 48 hours, to be reviewed by the league.
The trade limit is 30 trades per season, exclusive of draft-pick trading.
Tiebreakers, regular season and playoffs
Regular season. If a matchup ends tied 5–5–1, the tiebreaker is whoever has the most points.
If both teams have the same points, the result stands officially as a tie in the standings. There will be no readjustment of statistics and no correction, unless ESPN does so on its own.
Playoffs. If the matchup ends 5–5–1, the tiebreaker is points.
The Jabari Brown Clause. If both teams tie on points, the next tiebreaker is rebounds. If both teams also tie on rebounds, the next tiebreaker is assists.
ESPN allows the commissioner to adjust the winner of a playoff matchup.
Accidental drops
Drop a player by accident and you have 30 minutes to tell the commissioner to reverse the transaction. You get one free use of this.
After your one free use, each further request costs $50. The transaction is not processed until the $50 is paid, and the money goes to the pot. You may use this request a maximum of four times.
If another team picks the player up at the same time as, or before, you notify the commissioner, the transaction cannot be reversed.
Twelve rules · read all of them
1. Players with any injury are eligible for IR for a maximum of four weeks.
2. The IR designation can be used four times during the regular season.
Amended 18 Oct 2026 — now five tokens per team. See In-season Updates and the IR List.
3. One token per player. Leftover weeks are not redeemable after use.
4. Playoff teams are awarded three IR designations after the reset, and the same rules apply.
Under review following the 18 Oct amendment — confirm whether the playoff allocation still applies on top of the five.
5. Hold a player beyond the four-week maximum and a $75 fine is assessed and a player is dropped from the team — the most recent pickup.
6. If a player comes back and is reinjured, you must use another IR token. You cannot use the remaining weeks on the old one.
The owner must notify the commissioner every time an IR spot is used, for any reason. If the commissioner finds an IR spot used without notification, the most recently added player via free agency or waivers is dropped immediately and a $75 fine is issued.
7. Every team using an IR spot will be dated on the headboard.
8. The player must be on your team at the time of the injury. You cannot draft, pick up or trade for an injured player and then add him to IR.
9. All fines go to the earnings pot.
10. The player must be reactivated before the first game on the expiration date.
11. Only players carrying the “O” designation can be placed on IR, because of the ESPN settings.
12. If you trade a player who is on IR, your token still counts for that use after the player has left your team.
Lock times, fixes and the unset-lineup fine
Trouble placing a player, or you forgot to set your lineup? You have 30 minutes to contact the commissioner about it, otherwise it counts as a fine due.
Players who are game-time decisions or questionable before the game are not eligible for this fix.
Players dropped by accident within two minutes of lineup lock will not have that transaction reversed.
Unset lineups get one free reminder. After that, each unset lineup is a $50 charge if it is not reported by that team within 30 minutes.
Catch it before the commissioner does
Report an unset lineup before the commissioner catches it and $25 is added to your earnings — taken from the fine the offending GM pays.
Report an illegal IR before the commissioner catches it and $25 is added to your earnings. The rest of the fine goes to the pot.
Every snitch gets a personal reference code. Winnings are tallied on the headboard using that referral code.
Verified against the live ESPN settings
| Platform | ESPN · league ID 56088 · season 2027 |
|---|---|
| Teams | 20 |
| Scoring | Head-to-head, most categories |
| Categories (11) | PTS · REB · AST · STL · BLK · 3PM · FGM · FTM · FG% · FT% · TO (fewest wins) |
| Matchup periods | 19, one week each |
| Playoff teams | 12 of 20, seeded by head-to-head record |
| Starters (9) | PG · SG · SF · PF · C · G · F · UTIL ×2 |
| Bench / IR | 3 bench, 1 IR |
| Waivers | Traditional, 24-hour period, unlimited acquisitions |
| Trade deadline | 15 February 2027, 12:00pm ET |
| Draft | Snake, 13 rounds, 60 seconds per pick, no keepers |
| Lineups lock | Per player, at his team's first game that day |
Both percentages are weighted by attempts. A poor free-throw shooter taking two a game is survivable; one taking eight is a lost category.
Three bench spots means depth cannot be hoarded. With 20 teams and 260 players rostered, a player you drop is usually gone for good.
$400 per team · $8,000 pot · fines on top
| Offence | Amount | Goes to |
|---|---|---|
| Third accidental-drop reversal | $50 | Pot |
| Third “30” after accepting a trade | $50 | Pot |
| Unset lineup, after one free reminder | $50 | Pot · $25 to a snitch |
| Holding a player past the 4-week IR max | $75 | Pot · plus a forced drop |
| Using IR without notifying the commissioner | $75 | Pot · plus a forced drop |
All fines go to the earnings pot. Snitch awards are paid out of the offending GM's fine, and the balance goes to the pot.
The payout split has not been set yet. It will be published here before the season's first games.
2 entries · newest first
18 October 2026 — IR tokens raised to five per team.
The written guidelines say four designations for the regular season plus three more for playoff teams. That is superseded: every team now carries five tokens for the season, and the live count is kept on the IR List tab. Whether the three playoff designations still sit on top of the five has not been settled.
18 October 2026 — the manual trade poll is retired.
Trades now post automatically in the Trade Room. The five-minute posting window, the title format rules and the $25 double-poll fine no longer apply, because nobody has to post anything. The 12-veto threshold and the 24-hour window are unchanged.