Want to form a huge fantasy league but don’t have enough friends? Want to be able to continue competing for a championship even though your top 3 draft picks are all sitting on your IR for the whole season? Want to really earn bragging rights by taking home the top money BEFORE the championship match even begins?

If you answered yes to any of these unusual questions, then perhaps you should give the Dual Team Fantasy League format a try. In short, the DTF League involves each league member managing TWO different teams within the same league.

I know what you’re probably thinking: “that just doesn’t work because you can easily load up one team and ignore the other, both in the draft and with trades.” Not with my very specific setup! Just hear me out:

The DTF League would consist of a set number of teams split evenly into two conferences. Each owner forms two separate teams, one in each of the two conferences.

The teams in one conference would only consist of Eastern Conference NBA players, while the teams in the other conference ONLY consist of Western Conference NBA players.

So if there are eight owners in total, then the league would have eight teams in each conference, and 16 teams in total.

Two separate drafts would take place, one for each conference. For fairness, draft order would be randomized for the first draft but then that order would be reversed for the second, separate draft.

Regarding trades, they can only be made within the same conference. Additionally, if a real NBA trade occurs involving rostered players going from one NBA conference to the other, then the fantasy owner still owns the rights, but must move that player to their other team in the opposite conference.

Regular season schedule would include playing all other teams in the league except for the fantasy owner’s other team. (Example: in a 16-team/8-owner format, each of the teams would still play against 14 of the other 15 teams).

The top teams in each conference would qualify for the playoffs and would still face off against each other, culminating in a Finals matchup involving the last remaining team from each conference (with the potential of having two teams from one fantasy owner facing off in the Finals).

Payouts would be typical for playoff finish with the following optional (but awesome) addition: A percentage of the total pot to be awarded to any fantasy owner who qualifies BOTH of their teams for the playoffs. This adds an extra incentive to not neglect one of your two teams during the season.

For a more specific league settings example:

16 teams, 8 owners

2 conferences, 8 teams in East and 8 teams in West

8 teams in East can only own Eastern Conference NBA players, 8 teams in West can only own Western Conference NBA players

21 regular season weeks: play each conference opponent twice, play 7 of the 8 non-conference opponents once (no matchup against the fantasy owner’s other team)

3-week playoff format: top 4 teams from each conference qualifies

Payouts include:

45% of total pot to Finals winner

30% of total pot to Finals loser

13% of total pot to 3rd place game winner

12% of total pot split between any owners who qualify both of their teams for the playoffs (if none, the 12% is split evenly between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers.

Many fantasy basketball sites, such as ESPN, may not offer this kind of setup where one person can run multiple teams in the same league. However, Fantrax can! Fantrax has become the gold standard for league customization these days anyway.

Thanks for reading, and if you ever give this DTF League format a try, let me know how it worked for you!