Welcome back! It’s been a while since we last wrote on the top performers in High Score fantasy basketball. That’s because of the extended Week 17 spanning before and after the All-Star break. That gave some players the opportunity to play 5-6 games to try and reach an optimal score for your lineup.

Now, we head into the stretch run with only a few more matchups before the fantasy basketball playoffs begin (most commonly in Week 21 for Yahoo default leagues). Below we’re going over the perfect lineup for Week 17.

Taylor Wilhelm

More on the top performers

Cade Cunningham, guard: It still feels very odd that Cade isn’t getting more MVP hype this season. Sure, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has the Thunder atop the NBA standings again as we head into the final few months of the regular season. But Cunningham has the Pistons well ahead of the rest of the East, 5.5 games clear of the Boston Celtics in second place in the conference. It took a 42-point performance vs. the Knicks at The Garden to get Cade the recognition he deserves when it comes to MVP talk.

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Luka Dončić, guard: Luka has lost his MVP steam but still has a very good chance of winning the 2025-26 NBA scoring title, entering Week 18 averaging 32.8 points per game. Dončić scored 38 points with 6 rebounds and 11 assists in a three-point win over the Clippers this past weekend. He’s been dealing with a nagging hamstring injury that held him out of three games prior to the break. Luckily, Dončić was able to get in a solid outing before the end of the elongated week.

Nikola Jokić, frontcourt: The Joker is back after looking not quite himself since returning from a knee injury at the end of January. The Nuggets big man gave us a stat line we grew accustomed to seeing earlier in the season, when he was by far the best fantasy asset. He scored 35 points with 20 boards, 12 assists and 5 stocks in a losing effort to a depleted Warriors team missing Stephen Curry. Joker hadn’t reached 90+ fantasy points in High Score since Christmas.

Victor Wembanyama, frontcourt: The Spurs have ripped off eight wins in a row as they close in on OKC at the top of the Western Conference. Wemby has been elevating his ceiling when he’s aggressive on offense. But we also see what the floor looks like; he’s had a few games under 40 fantasy points over the past month or so. Wemby put on a show during All-Star Weekend, and after, scored 28 points with 15 boards, 6 dimes and 5 stocks this past weekend in a win over the Kings.

Kawhi Leonard, frontcourt: It almost feels bad that this Kawhi season is going to be wasted on this Clipper steam. Los Angeles has no choice but to make the Play-In Tournament since OKC owns the team’s first-round pick, but it would be a long-shot for the Clips to make any noise in the postseason. So instead, we’ll just enjoy this renaissance season for Leonard, who is averaging just shy of 30 points per game in February. He’s slowly climbing the rankings in High Score and could be a league-winner down the stretch.

Paolo Banchero, utility: Banchero snuck his way onto this list with 26-14-8 with 4 blocks in a loss to the Suns. He’s been one of the more erratic assets in fantasy basketball this season given his struggles scoring the rock. Some nights you get Banchero who lands in the perfect lineup, though, it took two overtimes for the forward to get in past Tyrese Maxey’s score. The Magic have a brutal schedule this week with matchups vs. the Lakers, Rockets and Pistons.