It’s fantasy basketball championship week and if you’ve made it this far, congratulations. All your hard work over the season comes down to one matchup, a matchup that may be difficult to navigate given how wild silly season has gotten. Games are either very, very tight or way too loose given teams are either fighting for actual playoff positioning or are tanking/eliminated from contention. It has created some of the perfect fantasy basketball environments for players down the stretch.
It’s been a fun ride in the first season of Yahoo High Score fantasy basketball, so let’s go over the perfect lineup from Week 22.
Week 22 High Score Perfect Lineup.
(Dillon Minshall)
More on the top performers
Scottie Barnes, guard: The Raptors swingman is tracking toward being a top-10 asset in High Score fantasy this season with excellent category coverage. Two stats that are of the most importance in High Score are steals and blocks. If you’re consistently racking up either of those catties then you’ve got a good chance of reaching a ceiling. Barnes has gone 12 straight games with at least one steal, and the last time he didn’t register a steal or block in a game was Feb. 22. Toronto isn’t clear of the play-in in the East yet, so expect Barnes to continue to play big minutes and help out in the championship round.
Advertisement
Luka Dončić, guard: It was a down week for Luka by his standards. He’s also going to start Week 23 with a one-game suspension, so he’ll only have three contests for High Score managers. But even one of Dončić’s worst weeks is still better than most players’ best weeks. He’ll enter this week coming off back-to-back 40+ point games, but he didn’t hit his ceiling like the previous two weeks — 88 points and 91 points.
Nikola Jokić, frontcourt: Joker was restored to his place atop the High Score leaderboard thanks to 85 fantasy points against the Mavericks last week. It was the rare combination of a team tanking but playing competitive basketball, enough to elicit a game with nearly 280 total points. Bad news for Jokić managers is a two-game week looms — one of those contests is against the Spurs. The other, fortunately, is against the Jazz. But it also puts pressure on managers to find points elsewhere if Joker can’t top out against Utah or San Antonio.
Alperen Şengün, frontcourt: As a player you likely got in the second or even third round of your draft, Şengün is the definition of a league-winner. His 81 fantasy points in Week 22 were second behind the Nuggets big and likely played a big factor in deciding your semifinals. With eight games left, Houston is still fighting to stay out of the play-in tournament. That bodes well for Şengün, who has some great matchups to wrap Week 23 — the Bucks, Jazz and Warriors.
Advertisement
Victor Wembanyama, frontcourt: The Big 3 in fantasy in terms of frontcourt contributors feels like Jokić, Şengün and Wemby, who didn’t quite reach a ceiling in Week 22, though he would have if the scoring were there. Wembanyama had 7 blocks against the Grizz, but only scored 19 with 15 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. The Spurs big does have at least five blocks in three of the past four games. He also has a four-game week with some winnable matchups for fantasy.
Jamal Murray, utility: Of course Murray also made it onto this list after that track meet between the Nuggets and Mavericks. The shooting guard came two points shy of matching his career high of 55 set back in February of last season. It was Murray’s fourth career game of 50+ points as the guard is also pacing toward being a top-25 fantasy asset this season. As Denver fights for playoff positioning, the Nuggets feel like literal fantasy gold down the stretch.
