CONTEST DESCRIPTION
DraftKings is pleased to announce an exciting new basketball contest and tournament format, the DraftKings Fantasy Basketball Kings Cup (hereinafter, “Kings Cup”), exclusively for DraftKings Players. Contestants will have the opportunity to win up to $50,000 (hereinafter, the “Prize”).
The Kings Cup is a 32-team single-entry competition that will take place from March 1st through April 2nd. In the field of 32, 28 spots are reserved for $5,300 direct buy-in. The final 4 spots will be filled through a variety of qualifiers running from February 25th through February 28th. Players are limited to a single entry and players who have reserved entry or won a spot are not eligible to play in the qualifiers.
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ENTRIES
Once a player has accumulated 1 entry to the Kings Cup they are no longer allowed to win additional entries.
FORMAT
Seeding Stage
On Tuesday, March 1st, all players will be randomly selected into 8 different Groups of 4. All players will be made aware of the random assignment process.
Group Stage
Once the groups are finalized, head-to-head group play will run for 3 days on Wednesday, March 2nd, Friday, March 4th and Monday, March 7th. Each player will play against each member of their group one time, thus each player will play 3 consecutive head-to-head matches against a new opponent. After the 3 head-to-head matches, the top 2 teams from each group will move on to the 16-team knockout stage. See ‘Group Stage Tiebreaker Rules’ for more detail.
Seeds are determined by the order players are drawn into groups. For the group stage the matchups will be:
Round 1:
1 v 2
3 v 4
Round 2:
1 v 3
2 v 4
Round 3:
1 v 4
2 v 3
Knockout Stage and Championship
The 16-team knockout stage will begin on Monday, March 7th and end by Wednesday, March 9th. The results of the group stage will determine the round of 16 knockout stage matchups plus the other potential matchups on the road to the championship. The knockout stage will be split into four quadrants; (1) Top Left (2) Bottom Left (3) Top Right and (4) Bottom Right. The Championship will be represented by a player from the Left side and a player from the Right side. The winner of each round will be determined by a best-of-3 head-to-head matchup with the exception of the Championship, which will be a best-of-5 head-to-head matchup. See ‘Knockout Stage and Championship Matchups’ for more detail.
TIE-BREAKERS
Kings Cup Qualifier Tie-Breaker Rules
If two or more DraftKings Players tie in a qualifier to the Kings Cup, the winner will be the DraftKings Player with the higher single-player fantasy points result for each drafted player in the lineup. For example, if DraftKings Player A and DraftKings Player B tied in a Kings Cup qualifier, and Player A's highest fantasy point scoring player was Carmelo Anthony with 34 fantasy points, and Player B's highest fantasy point scoring player was Kevin Love with 31 fantasy points, then Player A would be judged the winner. In the event that two or more teams have the same highest fantasy point scoring player, the same process will proceed down to the next highest fantasy point scoring player in each roster. In the event of two or more identical rosters, the players will be contacted and a playoff contest will be scheduled for the following day, as long as there is an open day for a contest before the start of the Kings Cup Group Stage. If there is no available day to conduct a head-to-head tiebreaker, then the DraftKings player who submitted their lineup that resulted in the identical tie first shall be deemed the winner.
Group Stage Tie-Breaker Rules
If any Group Stage head-to-head matchup results in a tie, the winner will be the DraftKings Player with the higher single-player fantasy points result for each drafted player in the lineup. For example, if DraftKings Player A and DraftKings Player B tied, and Player A's highest fantasy point scoring player was Carmelo Anthony with 34 fantasy points, and Player B's highest fantasy point scoring player was Kevin Love with 31 fantasy points, then Player A would be judged the winner. In the event that two or more teams have the same highest fantasy point scoring player, the same process will proceed down to the next highest fantasy point scoring player in each roster. In the event of two or more identical rosters, the match will be recorded as a draw in the official group standings.
After the 3 group stage head-to-head matches have completed, the final group standings will be determined by best record (win-loss-draw). If 2 teams have the same record, the tiebreaker will be determined by their head to head result during group play. If 3 teams have the same record, the standings will be determined by the most cumulative fantasy points throughout the 3 head-to-head matchups. For example, if 3 players in Group A finish with a 2-win/1-loss record, and Player 1 accumulated 389 points in those 3 matches and Player 2 accumulated 411 points and Play 3 accumulated 345 points, Player 2 would be highest in the standings, followed by Player 1, then Player 3. Only 2 teams from each group can advance out of the Group Stage into the Knockout Stage, with the other 2 teams from that same group being eliminated. In the event of a tie in both record and total fantasy points between any teams in the same group, their final position in the group will be determined by the cumulative points scored by each player’s pitchers in all 3 head-to-head matchups. If that also results in a tie, the same total will be used to determine the winner based on point guards, shooting guards, small forwards, power forwards and finally, centers.
Knockout Stage and Championship Tie-Breaker Rules
If two or more DraftKings Players tie in the knockout stage, the winner will be the DraftKings Player with the higher single-player fantasy points result for each drafted player in the lineup. For example, if DraftKings Player A and DraftKings Player B tied in a Kings Cup qualifier, and Player A's highest fantasy point scoring player was Carmelo Anthony with 34 fantasy points, and Player B's highest fantasy point scoring player was Kevin Love with 31 fantasy points, then Player A would be judged the winner. In the event that two or more teams have the same highest fantasy point scoring player, the same process will proceed down to the next highest fantasy point scoring player in each roster. In the event an identical roster, the match will be determined a draw. In the event of a 1-1-1 record in a round in the knockout stage the winner will be the team with the most cumulative points for all 3 matches.
Any tie that takes place in the championship final best of 5 will be ignored and result in a rematch.
KNOCKOUT STAGE AND CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHUPS
Final standings from the Group Stage will determine all round of 16 matchups and potential matchups for all remaining rounds. Refer to the knockout stage bracket on the promotions page for a full view and schedule. Players in the same group will be separated on opposite sides of the knockout stage bracket. In the first round of 16, top seeded players will be guaranteed a matchup against a second seeded player from another group.
The Field of 40
