FAQ
What Front Office Hoops is, what it costs, how realistic it is, and where your save lives
Short answers to the questions we hear most. Most answers end with a link to the page that goes deeper.
The basics
What is Front Office Hoops? Front Office Hoops is a free basketball general manager game that runs in your web browser. You take over one of 30 franchises and run it season after season: draft, trade, sign free agents, hire coaches, set the lineup, and sim to the playoffs. There is no download and no sign-up. You can start in a generated league of fictional players or with current NBA players. See: The Manual.
Is it free? Are there purchases? Yes, it is free to play, and you never enter a credit card. The game has no purchases and no premium tier. Every feature is open from the first click. See: The Manual.
Do I need an account? Where is my save? No. There are no accounts and no sign-up. Your league is saved in your browser, on the device you play on, and it is not uploaded to a server. Clearing this site’s data in your browser deletes the save, so export a backup from Settings every so often. See: Your saves & your data.
Does it work offline? Does it work on a phone? Yes to both. Once the game has loaded it runs without a connection, because the sim, rosters, and trades all run on your device. On a phone it runs in the browser with a layout built for small screens, and there is nothing to install from an app store. Your save stays in the browser and on the device where you started the league. See: Your saves & your data.
Is it like a 2K franchise mode or fantasy basketball? It is closer to a franchise mode, with one big difference: you never play a game. You run the front office, then the sim plays every game from your roster, lineups, and coach. It is not fantasy basketball either, because nothing follows real games or real stat lines once your league starts. See: Starters, rotations & out-of-position play.
How realistic is the sim? We tuned it against real NBA seasons and published the numbers, including the places we still miss. A Real Players league averages 115.5 points per team per game against 115.6 in the real 2025-26 season, and home teams win about 55 percent of the time. We simulated more than 33,000 seasons to get there. See: Closing the Gap to the Real NBA.
Can I use real NBA players? Yes. Choose Real Players in the setup wizard and you start with current NBA players and rosters, placed on our fictional franchises, with their own ratings that we build from public stats. After you take over, your league runs on its own timeline and does not follow real trades or results. See: Real Players.
Can I import my own league? Yes. Choose Import a File in the setup wizard. It reads Basketball GM league exports and Front Office Hoops files, and it shows you a conversion report of what will carry over before it creates anything. A league needs exactly 30 teams. See: Importing leagues & Basketball GM files.
What is Commissioner Mode? Commissioner Mode is a switch in Settings that lets you edit your league directly. You can edit or create players, redesign teams, force trades through, heal injuries, rig the lottery, and decide a game before it is played. Once you turn it on, the league keeps a Commissioner mark for good, even if you turn it off again. See: Changelog, v1.2.0.
What is a fantasy draft? A fantasy draft is a league start where every team begins with an empty roster and all the players go into one pool. All 30 teams pick in a 13-round snake draft, which is 390 picks, and you can trade picks while it runs. You can also let the game finish the draft for you. Turn it on in the setup wizard’s additional settings. See: Changelog, v1.2.0.
Saves & your data
Where does my save actually live? Right in your browser, on this device, as long as that browser can provide the storage the game needs (see the storage-warning question below for the exception). Front Office Hoops stores your league using your browser’s own file storage (OPFS): nothing gets uploaded anywhere, and nothing about your league leaves your machine. See: Your saves & your data.
Why did my save disappear? Two common causes. First, clearing your browser’s site data for Front Office Hoops wipes it out. Your save lives in this browser on this device rather than on a server, so there is no backup copy sitting somewhere else. If you are about to clear cookies, site data, or storage for this site, export a backup first (see below). Second, if your browser can’t provide local file storage at all (older Safari versions, certain security settings, some in-app browsers), the game runs but was never saving in the first place. Look for a red warning banner across the top of the app; if you have seen that banner, nothing since has been kept. See: Your saves & your data.
What does the red storage warning banner mean? It means your browser isn’t able to save this league at all right now, usually an old Safari version, a blocked security setting, or an in-app browser. The game keeps working, but nothing is kept between reloads or tab closes. Switch to a supported, up-to-date browser (or update Safari to 17 or later) before you put real time into a league there.
Can I export or back up my league? Yes. Head to Settings and export your save; it downloads your entire league as a single file. Do it before clearing browser data, switching machines, or reporting a bug (a save file is the single most useful thing you can attach to a bug report). Game updates also upgrade your save in place automatically, and the game offers you this same backup download before any update that changes your save’s format. See: Your saves & your data.
Will an update break my save? Updates upgrade your save automatically, and you can export a backup anytime from Settings. See: Your saves & your data for the full compatibility policy, local-storage details, and moving a league between devices.
Can I run more than one league at once? Yes. Start a new one anytime from the league screen (your existing leagues are untouched), switch between them from the sidebar, and delete a league individually when you are done with it. Exporting from Settings backs up all of your leagues in one file.
Browsers & bugs
What browsers are supported? Current versions of Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, and similar), Firefox, and Safari 17 or later. Keeping your browser reasonably up to date is the main thing that matters, and for Safari it matters most: versions before 17 can’t provide the local storage the game saves to, so the game still runs but nothing you do gets kept. The red storage warning banner tells you if that is happening.
I found a bug. What do I do? Post in r/FrontOfficeHoops, email [email protected], or DM u/FrontOfficeHoops on Reddit. If you can, export your save from Settings and attach it: a save file is the single most useful thing you can give us to reproduce what you are seeing.