Ok, imagine if you will, you have to put together a fantasy basketball team. Easy right? Just Lebron, Curry, Durant, instant wins.

OK, but what if instead of basketball players you were putting together a team of characters from Game of Thrones?

That’s what I’m here for.

Rules:

Let’s keep it simple, living characters only (alive at the end of season six), each character will have a value of $1-5, salary cap is $15, your team must have five people on it. Easy. No luxury tax, no mid-level exception, and no dragons.

The athletes:

$1

Samwell Tarly is pretty bad at fighting for real.

Hot pie

Ser Pounce

Missandei

Robin Arryn

Gilly

Samwell Tarly

Basically just warm bodies that don’t offer much, sorry Ser Pounce, you’re the real MVP. Out of this crew Gilly or Sam might offer the best value. Gilly has some stabbing experience and Sam has a Valyrian sword, but of course a sword in his hands might as well be a loaf of bread because he wouldn’t know what to do with it.

$2

Lyanna Mormont

Cersei Lannister

Varys

Davos Seaworth

Ellaria Sand

Gendry

Podrick Payne

Theon Greyjoy

Maester Pycelle

If Cersei can hold it together for a full season she might have been able to make a leap into the next tier, having killed off a ton of people, including a lot of house Tyrell and the faith militant. Her bad decision making and inability to see the bigger picture are her biggest problems, combine that with a lack of fighting acumen and it’s no surprise she’s here. Could be a solid pick up if you are looking for someone to bring the wine.

$3

Jorah Mormont

Bronn

Saladhor Saan

Petyr Baelish

Sansa Stark

Brienne of Tarth

The Hound

Meera Reed

The Sand Snakes

Thoros of Myr

Denys Mallister

Eddison Tollett

Daenerys Targaryen

Qyburn

Kind of a controversial move putting the Khaleesi in the middle tier, but hear me out. What does she bring to the table? Dragons. OK, but what does SHE bring to the table? Can she fight? Not really, no more than Sansa Stark. Is she a good strategist? Well, no. She relies on Grey Worm, Dario, Tyrion, Jorah, and formerly Barristan Selmy to do all the heavy lifting for her in that department. She’s actually kind of bad at strategy. She’s probably a better GM than a player tbh. She’s got a great team around her, and is great at recruitment but she is probably not really a deciding factor individually.

The Hound represents good value here, a powerhouse a couple of seasons ago he’s now on the down end of his career, narrowly surviving death, but could still be a really useful player as the number 3 guy.

Bronn is another solid pick up. Great one-on-one guy but lacks some of the leadership skills to the next level.

Brienne of Tarth hasn’t shown us enough yet, but keep an eye on her, I anticipate her stock going up. It’ll be a make or break year for Brienne working under Sansa, we’ll see if she can finally keep someone alive. Could break into the next tier for next year, but today she just isn’t there yet.

$4

Daario Naharis

Grey Worm

Yara Greyjoy

Tormund Giantsbane

Arya Stark

Ghost

Jaime Lannister

Tyrion Lannister

Melisandre

Beric Dondarrion

The Mountain

Benjen Stark

I’d be happy to have any of these guys and gals on my team tbh. This is a really nice, meaty tier with a lot of studs on it.

I thought about lowering Jaime down a tier but last season in his siege of Riverrun against the Blackfish he showed that his worth is not just in combat but he is a cunning strategist and general. Still his dominant hand is gone and he isn’t a top tier guy without it. He’s close though.

Yara Greyjoy almost feels unexpected, she has seemingly come out of nowhere but she has constantly impressed since her introduction. From her commando expedition to rescue her brother, to stealing the Iron Islands fleet, Yara is a versatile go-getter.

Daario and Grey Worm are both tremendous talents but are a little one-dimensional. Both are great as secondary threats but I wouldn’t believe either of these guys poses a credible threat to win the Iron Throne.

The Mountain would be unstoppable if he had any skills outside of killing guys. I just don’t trust him to lead an army. His intangibles and off the field problems give me cause for concern but he is such an offensive threat it’s hard to bump him to a lower tier.

Arya fans like Brienne of Tarth heads will probably feel like she deserved to be on a higher tier, but like Brienne she hasn’t proven herself. Not really. She graduated from Jaquen H’gar’s murder academy but just barely. Constantly getting her ass handed to her by The Waif is not a great look, but you got to start somewhere.

$5

Jon Snow

Bran Stark

Jaqen H’ghar

The Night King

Jon Snow

Of this tier you can make the best argument against him deserving his placement: he has already died once, and if not for some luck and foresight by his sister Sansa he might have died a second time during his battle against Ramsey Snow at Winterfell.

But his combined top-level leadership and fighting ability make him a real force to be reckoned with. In single combat few men in the seven kingdoms would stand a chance against him, Oberyn Martell (RIP), and The Mountain are two that could possibly make him break a sweat. As a general he’s second to none right now, as all the big names are dead now. Tywin Lannister, Stannis Baratheon, even his brother Robb Stark, all worm food.

Bran Stark

Spent a couple of years overseas and really developed into an exciting prospect. His inability to walk was thought to be a problem but he has worked around it. Possesses a skillset that includes greensight and warging that makes him able to overcome his paralysis.

Able to control direwolves and Hodor, I’d like to see what the new three-eyed raven could do with a dragon.

Jaqen H’ghar

Dominant in Braavos, had a reasonably successful stint in Westeros early on where he was basically Arya’s personal murder ghost. In the House of Black and White he was instrumental in teaching young Arya the murder arts. I don’t guarantee we will ever see him again, he may choose to continue dominating in Essos. But if I were recruiting for the end of the world, I might offer this guy a max contract.

The Night King

As a white walker most weapons have little to no effect on him. Steel swords are reduced to dust. I can’t imagine a fist doing anything to him. He has one big glaring weakness to dragon glass and Valyrian steel, but since both of those are exceedingly rare it’s not a going concern against most people.

He can raise the dead seemingly at will. The only limit being burned bodies apparently, but everyone else is fair game.

Not much is known (by me) about him, maybe GRRM wrote a whole book about him, I dunno. He seems like a real baller though.

Joe's Team

Jon Snow - $5

Bronn - $3

Daario Naharis - $4

Davos Seaworth - $2

Ser Pounce - $1

I didn't intentionally pick one person from each group, it just worked out that way. I was trying to figure out how to avoid picking up someone from the loonie pile, but in the end had to settle for Ser Pounce. But hey, someone has the be the Mario Chalmers of this group.