Fantasy Matchup Rater

How the Matchup Rater works

FPPG Allowed / G is the season-to-date average fantasy points allowed per game by each defense to players at the selected position. It is computed by the RankFantasy ETL directly from balldontlie.io box scores — the same source and formula used in the NBA Start Score's matchup component.

Fantasy points: PTS×1.0 · REB×1.2 · AST×1.5 · STL×3.0 · BLK×3.0 · 3PM×1.0 · TO×(−1.0)

Defense Rankings rank all 30 teams from most permissive (rank 1 — highest FPPG allowed, easiest matchup) to most stingy (rank 30). Four tiers by rank:

• Target (1–8): exploit aggressively — start and stream.
• Favorable (9–15): lean start; meaningful upside edge.
• Average (16–22): neutral — matchup neither helps nor hurts.
• Avoid (23–30): matchup drag — seek alternatives if possible.

This Week combines Defense Rankings with the next-7-day schedule. For each upcoming game, both teams' offensive matchups are surfaced — sorted best-first within each position tab.

Position buckets (G / F / C) follow the RankFantasy ETL's normalization of balldontlie.io position data: G covers PG and SG, F covers SF and PF, C covers C. A player listed as G-F or F-C is bucketed by the primary designation. This may differ from platform-specific position labels (Sleeper, ESPN).

Sample size matters. The Games column shows how many games back each rating is based on. Early-season ratings with 5–10 games are noisier than mid-season ratings with 40+ games — weight accordingly.

Consistency with the NBA Start Score. The matchup component of the Start Score uses the same nba_matchup_ratings table and the same season. If this tool shows a defense as Avoid, the Start Score will apply a below-average matchup multiplier to players facing that defense. The two tools cannot contradict each other.