THE PLAYBOOK
One free desk.
Two ways to use it.
Unowned Fantasy is a free daily data desk for DraftKings DFS, pick'em and props. Projections, ownership, value, lineups and real lines for every slate, each with the reason written out, and each graded the next morning. Here is what it is, how a first timer gets value from it in ten minutes, and where an experienced player finds the edge.
WHAT'S ON THE DESK
What makes it different
Six things you will not find together anywhere else, and none of them cost anything.
The whole desk, not a teaser
Most DFS sites give away a few picks and lock the projections, ownership and tools behind $30 to $100 a month. Here every projection, every ownership number, every prop line and every lineup build is free, for every slate.
Every call explained
No call on this site is a hunch. Each play, stay away and prop lean comes with its reason written out in plain English, built from the same numbers you can check on the Players and Teams pages.
Every call graded in public
The Record grades every play, stay away and prop lean against the box score overnight. Lineup Results shows each recommended lineup's projection next to what it actually scored on DraftKings. Bad nights stay up.
Ownership next to every number
Tournaments are won by being right where the crowd is wrong. A model trained on thousands of real DraftKings contests projects who the field will play, and leverage sits next to every projection.
Every book on one page
DraftKings Sportsbook, DK Pick 6, Underdog and Polymarket lines side by side, each with what a $100 bet wins, the market's own probability with the vig removed, and our lean.
Rebuilt before every lock
The full build runs every morning at 7 AM Eastern, then the slate is rebuilt about an hour before each lock, so late scratches, salary swaps and line moves land in the projections and lineups before you submit.
NEW TO DFS
Your first slate in ten minutes
Daily fantasy is simple to start: you get $50,000 of fake salary, you pick a roster of real players, and you score points from what they actually do that day. Here is the path through the site that gets you a sound lineup without learning the jargon first.
- Pick a contest type before you pick players. Start with a cash game (50/50s and double ups, where about half the field gets paid) or a small field tournament. Huge tournaments with 100,000 entries are lottery tickets and the hardest place to learn.
- Open the slate and read the top three plays at each position. Plays & Fades lists them with the reason written out. A Core play is popular and worth it, a Pivot is similar upside fewer people will have, a Punt is a cheap player who frees up salary for the stars.
- Read the stay aways. These are popular players with a specific, named problem today: an injury tag, a tough matchup, a price the role does not support. Skipping one bad chalk play is often worth more than finding one good one.
- Fill the cheap spots from the salary bands. On the DraftKings DFS page, Best value by salary band ranks the top five players in each $1,000 price range by projected points per $1,000. When you need a $4,000 player, look at the $4,000 band.
- Or start from a built lineup. The Lineups tab builds complete DraftKings lineups. Use the small field builds for cash and small tournaments, they lean on the projection and stay away from risky ownership plays.
- Check back an hour before lock. News breaks late. The site rebuilds before each lock, so a late scratch is already out of the plays and the lineups when you look.
- Look at the Record the next morning. See which calls hit and which missed, and why. It is the fastest way to learn what a projection does and does not tell you.
Five words you will see everywhere
- Projection
- Our estimate of a player's DraftKings points today. The floor is a bad day, the ceiling is a great one.
- Value (points per $1K)
- Projected points for every $1,000 of salary. It is how you compare a $9,000 star with a $4,000 role player.
- Ownership
- The share of the contest expected to roster a player. Popular players are called chalk.
- Leverage
- How much of the slate's upside a player carries compared with how many people will have him. High leverage means the field is under rostering him.
- Stack
- Teammates in the same lineup, like a quarterback and his receiver, so one big game counts twice.
EXPERIENCED PLAYERS
Where the edge is
You already have a process. Here is how to plug this desk into it, and the parts that are hard to get anywhere else, paid or free.
Leverage, made visible
The Unowned ladder on the Charts page plots each player's share of the slate's ceiling against his projected ownership. The players above the line are your tournament pivots: the field is paying less for their upside than it is worth.
Pivots at the same price
Salary bands rank every $1,000 range by value, and the position filter keeps the comparison honest. Sitting at $6,000 to $6,900 with a chalk receiver? The next one or two names in that band are your low owned swaps at the same salary.
Three ownership numbers, not one
Ownership is projected separately for large field tournaments, small field tournaments and cash games, because the same player can be 30% owned in a double up and 12% in a mass entry tournament.
Builds you can audit
Large field builds trade some median for ceiling and leverage, small field builds stay close to the projection. Every build follows real DraftKings roster rules and stack rules, and Lineup Results grades every one against actual DraftKings points, so you can see how the builds perform before you trust them.
Props, model against market
Every prop is scored by our model and by the market with the vig removed, blended 35/65. When the two disagree by more than 25 points the line is marked check news instead of being sold to you as an edge, because that gap almost always means something changed.
Calibration in the open
The Record tracks floor and ceiling hit rates against their targets (about 80% and 15%), projection error and bias by sport and night, and the prop board graded by confidence label. If a label stops meaning anything, you will see it there first.
| When | What to open | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | Slate, Charts, Plays & Fades | Find the games with the highest implied totals, the leverage spots on the Unowned ladder and the stay aways |
| Building | DraftKings DFS, Lineups | Value by position and salary band, stacks, ownership by contest type, complete builds as a starting pool |
| An hour before lock | The same pages, rebuilt | Late scratches out, salary and line moves in, lineups rebuilt |
| Betting and pick'em | Props & Lines | The same line at four books, what $100 wins at each, and where model and market agree |
| Next morning | Record, Lineup Results | What hit, what missed, and whether the projections ran hot or cold |
By platform
DraftKings Classic
The full desk: projections, value by position and band, ownership by contest type, leverage, stacks and lineups for the main slate of every sport.
DraftKings Showdown
Single game builds with Captain at 1.5x, separate ownership for Captain and Flex, and a Showdown spotlight in the morning brief.
Pick 6, PrizePicks, Underdog
Every More or Less line we can see, with the model's probability, the market's and the standard payout for each card size.
Sportsbook and Polymarket
American odds and Polymarket share prices on one board, each translated into what a $100 bet wins and the probability the price implies.
The calendar
NFL, NBA, NHL
Every main slate and Showdown, every day there are games.
College football and basketball
College football Saturday main slates and men's college basketball are being added next, starting with DraftKings main slates.
MLB
Baseball returns with Opening Day in late March, with pitchers, stacks and park and weather factors.
Get the desk every morning
The top plays, the stay aways and the best priced prop leans for every slate, in one email after the morning build.