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The Dance 2025 Best Ball Tournament Rules
The Dance 2025 Best Ball Tournament Rules
Underdog contests are governed by our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and the rules listed below.
Entrants into Underdog contests compete to accumulate points based on athletes’ statistical performance in sporting events. Contest results are determined by the total points accumulated by each individual lineup entry according to the relevant scoring rules.
General Contest Information
General Contest Information
Entrants select players through a snake draft. In a snake draft, the pick order is reversed each round. In other words, the entrant with the first pick in round 1, will have the last pick in round 2 and the first pick in round 3.
Entrants are required to pay an entry fee of $10 per entry to enter the Underdog $500,000 NBA Best Ball Tournament (the “Tournament”).
Entry to the Tournament will be closed just prior to the 1st game of the 2024-2025 postseason. This means that the Tournament closure time would move, if the timing of the first game were to change for any reason.
Entrants are only allowed to enter a maximum of 150 entries in the Tournament.
Entrants draft a team of players who accumulate points throughout the duration of the contest period.
Once entrants draft, their rosters are set—there are no waivers, substitutions, or trades during the contest period.
At the end of each NBA playoff round, Underdog automatically selects the entrant’s highest scoring players at the designated positions to be “starters” and only those players’ statistics over that week are counted towards the entrant’s accumulated score. This means entrants do not need to set their lineups.
Entrants compete in groups (“Groups”) over the course of multiple rounds (“Rounds”).
The Tournament will have 4 Rounds, with each round consisting of player groups as seen below:
Round 1 - 6 person groups
Round 2 - 10 person groups
Round 3 - 6 person groups
Round 4 - 310 person final group
The Tournament will consist of 55,800 total entries and in the first Round, a total of 9,300 6-person Groups.
At the end of Round 1, the top two (2) performing entries in each Group will advance to Round 2 and be awarded a prize (as described below). Round 2 will consist of 18,600 entries in 1,860 10-person Groups.
At the end of Round 2, the top one (1) performing entries from each Group will advance to Round 3 and be awarded a prize (as described below). Round 3 will consist of 1,860 entries in 310 6-person Groups.
At the end of Round 3, the top one (1) performing entry from each Group will advance to Round 4 and be awarded a prize (as described below). Round 4 will consist of 310 entries in a single 310-person Group.
At the end of Round 4, the top one (1) performing entry from the Group will be the Grand Prize winner and prizes will be awarded to all entries in Round 4 (as described below).
Rounds
Round 1 – Round 1 (Does not include Play-In games)
Round 2 – Conference Semifinals
Round 3 – Conference Finals
Round 4 – NBA Finals
Roster Makeup
Roster Makeup
The roster makeup and scoring will follow the details below.
Roster
Position | Roster |
Big | 1 |
Guard | 1 |
Wing | 1 |
Bench | 5 |
Tournament Prize Breakdown
Tournament Prize Breakdown
1st $50,000
2nd $25,000
3rd $12,500
4th $8,330
5th $7,000
6th $6,000
7th $5,750
8th $5,500
9th $5,250
10th $5,000
11 - 15th $2,500
16 - 20th $1,500
21 - 50th $1,000
51 - 75th $800
76 - 100th $700
101 - 200th $500
201 - 310th $400
311 - 620th $100
621 - 930th $30
931 - 1860th $15
1861 - 18600th $8
Scoring
Scoring
Underdog uses official league statistics provided by reputable partners and only includes statistics from sporting events the relevant league deems to be official.
We endeavor to promptly settle contests and distribute prizes, but it is also important to us to make sure we do so accurately. On a weekly basis, final scores will be confirmed within 72 hours after the final game for that week is played.
Following each playoff round (Play-In Games are not included), when entries advance, entries will be advanced within 72 hours after the final game for that NBA playoff round is played. Once entries are advanced, scores will be considered final and no changes will be made. Normally, any scoring changes or stat corrections provided by our partners after a contest has ended and Underdog has settled the contest will not impact the already-settled contest. However, Underdog reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to revise scores after they are released in the unlikely event of potential scoring error by a provider or Underdog. In those circumstances, the contest results may be altered, payments may be reversed, and redone based on the correction.
If a league declares a game “postponed” or "suspended," then the statistics generated in the sporting event before that point will count toward the contest. Any statistics generated when the sporting event takes place or resumes will count only if it occurs before the relevant contest period or Round closes.