How We Play: Basketball
One roster. One city. One Champion.
Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball brings 40 world-class athletes to the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee for four weeks of playoff intensity competition.
The Athletes Unlimited Format
Teams Change Weekly
We bring a group of world-class athletes to one city for a month of heated competition. Teams are redrafted each week, which means you get to see the best players battling with and against each other in different combinations. All active players from the roster will be on one of the four teams each week.
To find what team your favorite players are on in any given week, click here.
How We Draft
The Leaderboard
As the teams play each other every week, we keep a running leaderboard that counts points for each athlete individually. You can see the leaderboard change constantly throughout the game as athletes make plays.
Athletes earn points in three ways:
- When their team wins a game or quarter
- When they make a positive play on the court or they may lose points for a negative play or error.
- When they are voted one of the top 3 MVPs of a game by players and fans.
You don’t have to do the math, our leaderboard will do it for you. But if you want to know how many points a given action is worth, check out How We Score.
Captains
Each week there will be four captains who will draft their new teams. The captains also have the ultimate authority over the team – lineups, in-game decisions, and practice plans. They also have a coach to collaborate with; we refer to them as facilitators.
For the 2025 season, Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball will be enacting a new captain process to increase the opportunity for players to serve as captains.
The new selection process is as follows:
- Week One: Captains will be randomly selected from the pool of returning players who have opted into the lottery. These players have experience in the AU system and understand what it takes to be a leader on the court.
- Weeks Two and Three: Captains will be determined by the top four point-earners on the weekly leaderboard. Previously, the cumulative leaderboard determined the captains for these weeks.
- Champions Week (Week Four): Captains will be the top four point-earners from the season leaderboard.
Learn more about the updated selection process here.
For more on the draft check out our How We Draft video.
Becoming a Champion
At the end of the season the athlete who sits atop the leaderboard is the champion — and the margin can be small! In some seasons we’ve had one play decide the difference between champion and second place. Every game, every play, every moment counts.
That means no meaningless mid-season games. No athletes taking a night off. This is world-class talent, playoff intensity. Every game.
So pick your favorite players, cheer for their teams and watch them compete to climb up the leaderboard. And when the final game ends we’ll see who rises to the top, and is crowned the champion.
HOW WE DRAFT
After the last game of every week, the top four point scorers will be named team captains. Each captain will be assigned to a team color based on their standing.
- No. 1: Gold
- No. 2: Orange
- No. 3: Blue
- No. 4: Purple
Team captains can consult with anyone they want prior to the opening of the draft, including any AU Pro Basketball staff, former coaches, and teammates.
Each week during the draft every captain will be allowed up to two minutes per pick. Once a player is selected their captain may consult them for further decisions. Once all 40 players have been selected to a team, it will be time to prepare for the upcoming slate of games and get ready to play ball.
Then, an exciting new week of competition will begin.
HOW WE SCORE
Win Points
Win points are all about the team performance. They accumulate during both individual quarters and overall game wins. Each quarter is worth +60 points and overall games are worth +180 points.
If a quarter is tied, the points roll over to the subsequent quarter.
Game MVPs
After each game, the players and fans will vote for players who they feel had standout performances.
These points will be added to the player’s individual total. Points will be awarded as follows:
- MVP 1: +90 points
- MVP 2: +60 points
- MVP 3: +30 points
Individual Stats
The final component of points is individual stats. Players will earn points based on their performance.
- Assist: 10
- Steal: 10
- Block: 10
- Shooting Foul Drawn: 4
- Personal Foul Drawn: 4
- Offensive Foul Drawn: 8
- Defensive Rebound: 5
- Offensive Rebound: 10
- Made FT: 10
- Made 2: 20
- Made 3: 30
Players can also lose points for certain actions, such as committing fouls, turning over the ball or missing a shot.
- Shooting Foul Committed: -8
- Personal Foul Committed: -8
- Offensive Foul Committed: -16
- Other Foul Committed: -8
- Turnover: -10
- Missed FT: -10
- Missed 2: -10
- Missed 3: -10
If a player has six Made 2-pointers, two Made 3-pointers, one Missed 3, two Missed 2-pointers, two Made Free Throws and draws a Shooting Foul, they would be awarded 174 points.
- Six Made 2-pointers (+20 points per 2-pointer) = +120
- Two Made 3-pointers (+30 points per 3-pointer) = +60
- One Missed 3-pointer = -10
- Two Missed 2-pointers (-10 points per miss) = -20
- Two Made Free Throws (+10 per free throw) = +20
- One Shooting Foul Drawn = +4
120 + 60 – 10 – 20 + 20 + 4 = 174 points
Overtime
If the game is tied at the end of the fourth quarter, the teams will play a five-minute overtime. If the game remains tied, teams will play to 7 points. The first team to score 7 points or more will secure the team win.
In overtime, no player earns individual points and there are no additional win points to be earned – only those that have rolled over.
For example, Team A outscored Team B in the fourth quarter, but the score was tied at the end of regulation. Team A would receive 60 win points for winning the fourth quarter and the teams would play overtime to decide the overall winner, who would be awarded 180 win points.
