Victor Wembanyama recorded his best fantasy game of the season in the Spurs’ loss against the Nuggets.
Last week was the fantasy basketball championship for most Yahoo High Score leagues. If you took home the hardware, congratulations! If you lost — like me — it’s going to be a long summer and offseason. And if you lost by two points in the final because of Nikola Jokić — again, like me — it may be a rough recovery road ahead.
This will be the final weekly High Score Perfect Lineup story of the season. If you followed along, thanks — I hope these stories were informative, helpful and fun. It was the inaugural season of High Score fantasy basketball on Yahoo and, at least for me, it was a major success. The format is definitely more accessible and less work while also offering the same excitement as 9-cat and points leagues.
Week 23 High Score Perfect Lineup. (Graphic via Taylor Wilhelm)
More on the top performers
Cooper Flagg: It’s fitting that the rookie phenom lands in the final High Score perfect lineup, a little preview of something we could see quite often next season. It looks like Flagg is going to do just enough to overtake Kon Knueppel for NBA Rookie of the Year this season. He came dangerously close to averaging 20-5-5 with over 2.0 stocks per game. It will be interesting to see where Flagg lands in the pecking order of fantasy drafts next season.
Luka Dončić: Dončić did just enough to get fantasy managers through the championship round. Earlier in the week, he was able to post 77 fantasy points prior to sustaining a hamstring strain that could ruin the Lakers’ chances of a deep playoff run. Dončić has already been ruled out for the rest of the regular season but could be back in the playoffs. Fortunately, it isn’t something fantasy managers need to be concerned about so long as your season ended on Sunday. Dončić finishes the season as one of the top assets in fantasy and should be a top-three pick next season.
Victor Wembanyama: Jokić and the Nuggets may have won the clash of titans on Saturday but Wemby was the one who came away with the slightly higher fantasy score. That may have decided a lot of fantasy championships (we’ll get to mine shortly). Wembanyama really peaked down the stretch, scoring at least 70 fantasy points in four of his past five games to end the fantasy season.
Injuries and range of outcomes hurt his value this season. That could hold him back from edging Jokić for who should be the No. 1 overall pick in fantasy drafts for 2026-27.
Nikola Jokić: I got Jokic’d in the final. Denver had just two games and perhaps if Jokić was playing any other team, my final likely would have gone in my favor. But alas, there wasn’t much I could do (plus, Alperen Sengun didn’t come through for me). Anyway, at least for High Score next season, Jokić should easily be the No. 1 overall pick. Even with missing a big chunk of time in January, Jokić was still the fantasy MVP, finishing with the highest average fantasy points per game (69.2), 5.1 points higher than Dončić in second place.
LeBron James: We didn’t see LeBron pop up in this lineup often but he finishes the season on it, mostly because of the injury to Dončić. He came one rebound shy of a triple-double with 30 points and 15 assists. It appears LeBron is going to bolt L.A. this offseason for one last ride elsewhere before he retires. He’ll continue to be a fantasy asset and could even boost his stock depending on where he lands.
Jayson Tatum: If you asked me during the offseason if I’d see Tatum pop up on a High Score article, I’d say, “You’re crazy, man.” But here we are, with Tatum on the list to end the season. His miraculous recovery from a torn Achilles during the playoffs led him to a quick return this season. The Celtics superstar also didn’t need much time to get re-acclimated. Through 14 games, Tatum is averaging 20-10-5, though his shooting splits leave a bit to be desired. This is a good sign for Tatum going into 2026-27 and he should return to being a player selected in the first two rounds.
