How to make a dynasty in Basketball GM

Storyline / Goal

• The creator demonstrates how to build a long-term “dynasty” in Basketball GM by starting with a weak roster, managing market-size finances, and repeatedly upgrading the roster through draft picks, free agency, and high-value trades.
• They play a new league using Detroit Muscle → Seattle to show the method on hard difficulty, emphasizing the added challenge of building in a small market.
• Over time, the franchise becomes a championship machine, eventually winning multiple titles in a row—their “first dynasty.”
• The creator also highlights a legacy moment where a star nicknamed “Super Jokic” (i.e., Andre Fuller) ages, is traded, and later retires—after which the creator retires his jersey.

Gameplay Highlights (What Matters Most)

Difficulty / Settings

• They choose Hard.
  • Normal is considered too easy because the AI values trades differently (making trades less realistic).

Finances → Hype → Money Loop

• The main objective is keeping Hype at 1.0 (max fan excitement) to:
  • Maximize attendance
  • Increase ticket revenue
  • Reduce the chance of getting fired
• Ticket pricing is adjusted using a trial-and-error (“min-maxing”) approach until attendance stays at max.
• If performance changes, hype may require adjusting ticket prices (lowering/increasing depending on how the team is doing).

Player Rating Concepts

• Overall: how strong the player is in games.
• Potential: how likely the player is to grow.
  • For young players, they prioritize selecting for high potential.
• Benchmarks:
  • ~65 overall: strong starter / possible All-Star
  • ~75 overall: MVP-level
  • Potential ≥ 70: strong young prospect to develop

Trading Philosophy

• They emphasize trading heavily early, then trading more selectively later—only when players hit certain thresholds.
• Rule-of-thumb thresholds:
  • Potential under ~55 is often treated as near-negative trade value.
  • Don’t trade players with potential or overall ≥ 70, especially if they’re your core.
• They also note AI behavior:
  • Some players with certain stat/potential profiles are undervalued by the AI.
  • This can sometimes let you acquire value by managing negotiations strategically.

Salary Cap Strategy

• Signing cap: you can sign up to about $90M without penalties.
• Above $100M, they incur a penalty costing $1 per $1 over.
• Key mechanic:
  • You can’t usually sign above the sign-cap, but you can re-sign players already on your roster.
• Their common “plan”:
  1. Build a young core with cheap contracts
  2. Upgrade later into superstar contracts
  3. Trade away aging stars before they become liabilities or overcrowd cap space

Market-Size Impact

• Seattle is treated as a small market, limiting sustainable payroll.
• They estimate a top sustainable range around $115–120M for Seattle-like conditions.

Strategies / Key Tips (As Practiced in the Run)

1) Build Revenue Without Tanking

• They explicitly warn that intentional tanking (losing on purpose) is bad in Basketball GM because it:
  • Reduces free-agent interest
  • Hurts money/owner tolerance
• Instead:
  • Keep the team good enough to remain employed and maintain fan hype.
  • Accept a “soft” bad season early (barely missing playoffs) to obtain lottery value without long-term tanking.

2) Trade Using “Potential/Value” Thresholds

• They use a “cut/keep” system:
  • Keep:
    • Players with 70+ potential
    • Often avoid trading MVP-level / 70+ core players
  • Cut/Trade:
    • If trajectory becomes unfavorable, such as:
      • Overall drops below ~70
      • Old + expensive players (targets for dumping to clear salary)
  • Potential 53 and below:
    • Treated as essentially worthless, to be replaced using free agents on minimum contracts

3) Use Free Agency as an “Endgame Growth Engine”

• High-potential free agent signings usually require:
  • Clearing roster space and salary
  • Sometimes preventing other teams from outbidding your offer

4) “Load Other Teams with Salary” to Force a Free Agent

• A major tactic:
  • Before signing, trade away salary to specific teams that can’t compete.
  • This increases the odds the desired player accepts your offer.
• “Desperation” mechanic:
  • As free agency days advance, the player becomes more willing to sign with the team that has the best available capacity/money.

5) Roster Composition: Positions Matter Less Than Talent

• They argue position tags are not the primary driver of success.
• The core idea:
  • High overall talent wins games.
  • Positional balance matters mainly if the roster is extremely skewed.
• Still, they aim for:
  • 2 good perimeter players
  • ~2 interior defenders
• But overall, they draft/sign the best talent by ratings rather than perfect role fit.

6) Release Draft Picks That Underperform (Don’t Keep Out of Habit)

• After free agency updates player ratings, they:
  • Release worse-potential draft picks if better free agents are available.
• Reason:
  • Early scouting can be rough; value improves after the free agent period.

7) Ticket Price “Min-Max” Loop (Reduces Workforce Fire Risk)

• They show a manual method:
  • Raise ticket price while monitoring attendance and hype
  • Find the highest price that preserves max/near-max attendance
• Later, during normal dynasty years:
  • They stop micromanaging and keep ticket price stable.

8) Player Aging: Transition the Franchise “Era to Era”

• To sustain the dynasty:
  • Re-sign key prospects when appropriate
  • Trade away aging stars once they decline (often right after dipping below ~70 overall or becoming salary problems)
  • Replace them with new 70+ potential players so the core remains young with upside

Practical “Cut / Keep” Guideline (Implicit Checklist)

• Keep
  • Core stars with ≥ 70 potential (especially if already contributing)
  • Players with MVP/elite impact
• Replace / Release Aggressively
  • Players with very low potential (~53 or lower)
  • “Toxic asset” profiles: old + expensive + low overall
• Trade Timing
  • When a star starts dropping (notably around/under 70 overall)
  • When cap pressure rises and you need flexibility for future contracts

Who Is Featured (Gamers / Sources)

• No other gamers are named as collaborators.
• A source credit is given to “dumb matter” (mentioned as the author of code).
  • The creator recommends supporting them via Patreon/Gold (the text references “signing up for gold,” implying a support platform).
• The run uses fictional-sounding example names (e.g., “Brandon Jennings” as a fake name), with no real outside gamers highlighted.