Rookie Draft

With the exception of the Inaugural League Season (where rookie draft picks will be included in the Start-Up Auction), every January there will be a Rookie Draft Lottery to determine the draft order for non-playoff teams.

• The Lottery will be weighted to favor the worst-performing teams

• This means last place has the best chance to have the #1 overall pick, but it is not guaranteed

• Non-playoff teams will have a different # of entries (ping pong balls) in the draft lottery drawing, based on final Max Points For:

  • Last Place: 30 entries (30% chance of getting the #1 pick)

  • 11th Place: 22 entries

  • 10th Place: 18 entries

  • 9th Place: 14 entries

  • 8th Place: 10 entries

  • 7th Place: 6 entries

• Traded Draft Picks are always calculated based on the original team's finishing position

Playoff teams do not participate in the Draft Lottery and are instead slotted into draft slots based on the final standings:

• The League Champion gets the last pick​

• League Runner Up gets the 11th pick

• The two losing semifinal teams get the 9th and 10th picks, with the worse regular season finisher getting the higher pick

• The two losing wildcard teams get the 7th and 8th picks, with the worse regular season finisher getting the higher pick​

A 5-Round Rookie Draft will be held every June:

• The Draft will follow the draft order determined in the Rookie Draft Lottery

• The draft order will repeat every round, so the team with the first pick in the first round also has the first pick in the other rounds

• The draft will be a "slow draft" to give people time to do last-minute research and/or negotiate trades

  • Teams will have 8 hours to make a pick

  • There will be an overnight pause from midnight to 9AM EST, so everyone should have plenty of time

  • Picks can still be made during the overnight pause, the clock just won't be running

• Players drafted in the first round are automatically given 5 year contracts, all other drafted players get 4 year contracts.

• Drafted players begin on a team’s Taxi Squad and don’t count against the salary cap, but are automatically given contract values based on their draft position.  These values come into play when a team wants to move the player to the Active Roster:

  • Rd 1 Pk 1: $34

  • Rd 1 Pk 2: $31

  • Rd 1 Pk 3: $28

  • Rd 1 Pk 4: $22

  • Rd 1 Pk 5: $19

  • Rd 1 Pk 6: $17

  • Rd 1 Pk 7: $15

  • Rd 1 Pk 8: $14

  • Rd 1 Pk 9: $13

  • Rd 1 Pk 10-12: $12

  • Round 2: $8

  • Round 3: $5

  • Round 4: $3

  • Round 5: $2