Beginner's guide
Your first squad: how to spend the opening budget
The budget slider is the difficulty setting, the wage cap is 78% of it, and you get first pick of every player in the game exactly once. How to spend the opening half hour.
Most management games start by asking which club you want. Backcourt does not. It asks what your club is called, what colours it plays in, and how much money you want to start with — and then it hands you an empty roster and the entire player pool.
That opening half hour decides more about the save than the next ten weeks of matches. Here is how to spend it.
The budget is the difficulty setting
There is no easy/normal/hard menu. There is a budget slider, and where you leave it decides both how strong your first squad can be and how much credit you get for what follows.
| Opening budget | What the save is called | Prestige multiplier | Wage cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to $180M | Legend | 2.2× | about $140M |
| Up to $260M | Hard | 1.6× | about $203M |
| Up to $340M | Normal | 1.2× | about $265M |
| Up to $430M | Easy | 1.0× | about $335M |
| Above $430M | Sandbox | 0.6× | about $390M+ |
The cap is always 78% of the budget. That detail matters more than it looks: the budget is not just opening spending power, it is the ceiling your wage bill lives under for the rest of the save.
What ratings actually cost
The pool holds 364 players, and the wage curve is steep by design — the top of the league costs far more per rating point than the middle.
| Rating | Tier | How many in the pool | Average wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90+ | Superstar | 12 | $43.5M |
| 84–89 | All-Star | 33 | $38.3M |
| 77–83 | Starter | 50 | $22.8M |
| 70–76 | Rotation | 73 | $13.1M |
| 63–69 | Bench | 78 | $8.8M |
| Under 63 | Prospect / depth | 118 | $2.7M |
Read that table as a shopping list and the shape of the problem appears. There are only a handful of players above 90, they earn around $40M each, and the difference between a 90 and an 80 costs more than four rotation players.
Three ways to spend a Hard-difficulty cap
All three of these fit inside roughly $203M, the cap on a $260M budget.
1. The superstar five — and why it fails
The five best players in the pool, one per position, are PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (94), SG Devin Booker (89), SF Jayson Tatum (90), PF Giannis Antetokounmpo (93), C Nikola Jokić (94). Average rating 92. Combined wages: $255M. That is over the cap before you have signed a sixth player, and a five-man roster cannot play a 38-game season. Chasing ratings is how new managers end the wizard with six players and no money.
2. The value spine — the one most people should build
Now take the cheapest starter-grade player (77 or better) at each position: PG Scotty Pippen Jr. (79), SG Cam Thomas (82), SF Amen Thompson (81), PF Paolo Banchero (87), C Dereck Lively II (78). Average rating 81, combined wages $40M. Nine rating points below the superstar five, at a fraction of the cost, leaving the overwhelming majority of the cap for depth, youth and the transfer market.
3. The dynasty build — slower, and the highest ceiling
Sign nobody over 23. Taking the highest-potential young players at each position gets you 13 players for $187M, averaging 82 today with an average potential of 94 and an average age of 21.7.
That squad will struggle in season one and win everything in season four, because development does the work a transfer budget would otherwise have to do. It is the most demanding opening and the strongest one.
The edge you only get once. You sign your squad before the rest of the pool is dealt out to the AI clubs. For one half hour you have first pick of every player in the game. No transfer window later in the save will ever be this generous, so do not spend it on the first famous name you recognise.
Shape the roster, not just the ratings
- Thirteen is the target. Eight is the minimum you can field, fifteen the maximum you can hold. Signing fifteen leaves you with two players who never play and two wages you pay anyway.
- Cover every position twice. The AI clubs fill their own gaps by positional need after you finish, so the free-agent market afterwards is thin exactly where you are thin.
- Leave wage room. Wages recur weekly next to facility upkeep, and a squad signed to the cap cannot absorb an injury or take a bargain.
- Check stamina before you commit to a starter. It barely affects a rating but decides how expensive his minutes are — see the energy guide.
Then the league is drawn around you
When you finish, everything you left behind is distributed to the other clubs in a weighted draft. Ambitious clubs reach for the best player on the board; patient ones draft for need; remaining gaps are filled with fictional depth players, and whoever is still unsigned becomes a free agent. Two consequences worth knowing:
- No two careers give you the same league, so opponent scouting reports from a previous save are worthless.
- Good players are still available after the wizard, because the pool is bigger than twenty rosters.
From there, the first ten weeks have their own checklist — roles, minutes, the locker room and the five mistakes nearly everyone makes: see the beginner's guide.
Frequently asked
Do you take over an existing club in Backcourt?
No. You create one: city, nickname, colours and conference. One of the league's existing franchises steps aside to make room for you, and then you sign your own squad from the whole player pool before the AI clubs are filled.
How does difficulty work?
It is the opening budget. Choose $180M or less and the save is labelled Legend, which multiplies the prestige you earn by 2.2. Up to $260M is Hard, up to $340M Normal, up to $430M Easy, and above that a sandbox setting that cuts prestige to 0.6 times.
What is the salary cap set to?
78% of the budget you chose. A $260M budget gives a cap of about $203M, so the budget decides both how good your opening squad can be and how much room you have to manoeuvre later.
How many players do I need?
Thirteen is the target the league is built around. Eight is the minimum you can field and fifteen the maximum you can hold.
Should I sign a superstar first?
Usually not. The five best players in the pool cost $255M in wages between them — more than a Hard-difficulty cap on its own. A five of starters rated 77 or better can be had for $40M.
Is the pool the same in every career?
The players are, but their clubs are not. Once your squad is signed, the rest of the pool is dealt out to the AI clubs in a weighted draft — ambitious clubs reach for stars, patient ones draft for need — so no two careers hand you the same league.
Try it on your own club tonight
Backcourt is free on iOS and Android. Career mode works offline, and there is nothing to buy that makes your squad stronger.
