We're looking at the top six scores from Yahoo High Score to form the Week 9 perfect fantasy basketball lineup.
The ups and downs in the NBA have made for a more exciting start to fantasy basketball in High Score's inaugural season in 2025-26. One minute you're topping the High Score leaderboard for the week with 99 fantasy points. The next, you're exiting a game early with a leg contusion. But it doesn't matter after that High Score is locked in. We've preached this plenty over the past couple months — it only takes one game and volatility isn't always a bad thing.
Let's talk a bit about the player we're alluding to above and the rest of the perfect lineup for High Score from Week 9 of the NBA season.
More on the top performers
Luka Dončić, guard: We were reminded of Dončić's ceiling with his 99-point performance on Thursday against the Jazz. He finished with 45 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists, plus five steals for 99 fantasy points. It was his second game all season with over 90 fantasy points and first game of 80+ points since Nov. 25, nearly a month ago. We've seen Dončić do this dance — missing time due to injury but being able to post a big High Score total. As the Lakers continue to deal with injuries (both to rotation players and Dončić), the superstar will have an increased ceiling.
Cooper Flagg, guard: The Mavericks' rookie phenom makes his first appearance in the perfect lineup for High Score. He started to show flashes back in November and his scoring has really come on of late. Flagg has at least 22 points in four straight games, one of those contests his 42-point explosion against Utah to start Week 9. He became the youngest player in NBA history to score 40+ points, breaking a record held by LeBron James. Flagg is currently a top-30 asset in High Score and he should only get better with more experience.
Nikola Jokić, frontcourt: This story is obviously all about highlighting top performances but for Jokić that isn't uncommon. What is uncommon is when he doesn't post a lopsided fantasy point total. So we're going to shift our focus to that since all we do in this piece week-to-week is talk about how incredible Jokić is at basketball. After opening the week with 86 fantasy points against the Rockets, he faced them for a second time on Saturday and posted a season-low 42 fantasy points on 25-7-5. The big man only played 29 minutes as Houston jumped out to a 16-point lead after the third quarter. Don't get used to this but know that a team with talent like the Rockets and the length to defend Jokić can slow him down.
Jalen Johnson, frontcourt: We'd been waiting for Johnson to come back down to earth with the return of Trae Young. It seems head coach Quin Snyder is going to ease Young back into the rotation. The Hawks PG was held to just 20 minutes in his return from injury on Thursday in Charlotte. That meant another game with ATL running the offense through Johnson, who finished with 43 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 stocks for 78 fantasy points. It was Johnson's ninth straight game with at least a double-double. So long as Young is being restricted, Johnson will maintain his high fantasy ceiling.
Lauri Markkanen, frontcourt: He started off the week on the right foot but has missed the past two games due to a groin injury. Markkanen and teammate Keyonte George combined to score 70 points in an OT win over the Mavericks on Monday. The big finished with 33 points, 16 boards, 5 dimes and 5 stocks to get into the perfect lineup. His outlook for Christmas week doesn't look great; the injury is still a concern and Utah faces tough matchups against the Nuggets and Pistons.
Alperen Şengün, utility: Jokić wasn't the only big to go off on Monday. The Rockets center posted his fourth game of the season of 70+ fantasy points with 72 in the narrow loss to the Nuggets to start last week. Şengün had a 33-point triple-double with three stocks. Şengün continues to offer Jokić-lite type of stat lines as a similarly-skilled big man. The difference between the two is Şengün has a much lower floor and isn't the No. 1 offensive option on his team (Kevin Durant is).
Category: General Sports
