\nVernon Wells spent part of spring training sharing his baseball expertise with Toronto Blue Jays prospects. Now he\u2019s focused on tapping his basketball knowledge to collect $1 million.<\/p>\n
\tA former New York Yankees outfielder who hit 270 home runs over his 15-year Major League Baseball career, Wells is one of 40 qualifiers for this weekend\u2019s Fantasy Basketball World Championship in Las Vegas. The biggest prize for basketball in the brief history of the booming daily fantasy sports market will be paid from entry fees collected by event organizer DraftKings Inc.<\/p>\n
\tWells, 36, was the third person to qualify for the championship, beating 179 other entrants in a one-day contest in January that cost $300 to enter. Wells, who started playing daily fantasy games a few months earlier during the National Football League season, said he\u2019s pretty sure it was the first basketball event he\u2019d entered.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI didn\u2019t even know what I qualified for,\u201d Wells, a season-ticket holder for the National Basketball Association\u2019s Dallas Mavericks, said in a telephone interview. \u201cI had to call them to explain to me what the heck I actually won.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWells, who also has season tickets for the Dallas Cowboys, said he was involved in season-long NFL fantasy leagues against teammates during his playing career. He now counts himself a convert to daily play, the fastest-growing segment of the $3.6 billion fantasy sports industry.<\/p>\n
\tInstant Gratification<\/p>\n
\tUnlike season-long fantasy leagues, in which team owners draft players, daily play participants select a roster using a salary-cap format and accumulate points based on the game-day statistics they generate. Contests are over in one day \u2014 or in the case of the NFL, one weekend \u2014 with the potential of a significant return on investment. Daily fantasy participants are largely unaffected by injuries or cold streaks that can derail season-long fantasy teams.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis is fun, no doubt,\u201d said Wells, who last year was released by the Yankees before the final season of his seven- year, $126 million contract. \u201cYou get to kind of play general manager with a bunch of All-Stars. You see how easy it is to throw in a lineup and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tEntry fees for daily fantasy sports more than quadrupled to $1 billion in 2014 from $245 million in 2013, according to Eilers Research in Anaheim, California. That growth has led to participants winning as much as $2 million in a single day.<\/p>\n
\tShared Passion<\/p>\n
\t\u201cOur players run the gamut from established financial professionals and attorneys to young folks right out of school \u2013 \u2013 and obviously superior athletes like Vernon Wells as well,\u201d said DraftKings Vice President Femi Wasserman. \u201cThe one thing that all the players have in common is that they love sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tDraftKings, the No. 2 daily fantasy website after FanDuel Inc., is covering airfare and hotel costs for the 40 qualifiers for the Fantasy Basketball World Championship at the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\tThe tournament includes the eight NBA games that tip off between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. New York time on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\tThe day before, DraftKings is holding its National Hockey League championship, with 25 qualifiers competing for a $100,000 top prize. Like the NBA contest, those competitors qualified by winning satellite events, similar to the way participants gain entry in the World Series of Poker.<\/p>\n
\tCoaching<\/p>\n
\tWells this month was back in uniform as a guest coach for the Jays, with whom he played 12 seasons. The three-time All- Star centerfielder was invited to camp to work with and mentor the team\u2019s young outfielders.<\/p>\n
\tWells is now poring over NBA statistics and trends in advance of Sunday\u2019s games. Two months ago, his winning squad was carried by performances by Ty Lawson, Zach Randolph, Chris Paul and Victor Oladipo.<\/p>\n
\tThe competition in Las Vegas \u2014 which has a total purse of $2 million \u2014 will be stiffer, Wells said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m going to be playing against people who are highly educated on what guys have done over the full course of the season,\u201d Wells said. \u201cThat being said, you make a couple of good choices on some of the cheaper guys and they go off, and your studs go off, and you\u2019ve got a chance. It\u2019s going be fun. There\u2019s not too many times you can walk into a situation and have a chance to win that kind of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
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