Fantasy Basketball 2025-26: Building around Victor Wembanyama in High Score

While many prefer more traditional formats when playing fantasy basketball, others are more willing to try new formats. With that in mind, Yahoo! Sports has introduced its new High Score fantasy basketball game. There are some differences between this league and the head-to-head and roto setups we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. Let’s look at how High Score is played, beginning with the rosters.

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– Each team has ten players, but only six will be active.

Lineups are set at the beginning of the week, with six active players and four on the bench. There are two guard slots for players with the point guard and/or shooting guard designation, three frontcourt slots (small forward, power forward and center) and one utility spot that can be occupied by any player regardless of position. The other four players will be on your bench, and you can slot them in at any point in the week.

However, there is a key factor that you’ll need to take into consideration when moving a bench player into the lineup for that week. The points accrued by the player you’ve decided to bench come off the board and can’t be recouped. Returning a benched player to the active lineup later in the week doesn’t do the trick; only the points earned in games from that point onward will be eligible. Each player’s high score from any game played during that week will count toward your team’s score, so targeting players capable of an explosive performance is the best way to approach your draft.

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– How does scoring work?

There are only five scoring categories for default High Score leagues, which are weighted.

Points: 1 point each

Rebounds: 1 point each

Assists: 2 points each

Steals: 3 points each

Blocks: 3 points each

For those who have played DFS, those point values will look somewhat similar, although rebounds and assists tend to count for 1.2 per rebound or assist. There are no decimals to deal with in High Score, only whole numbers. For those used to worrying about percentages or turnovers, those won’t matter in High Score. That boosts the values of players such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young and Zion Williamson, to name a few.

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The game also limits some of the risk of drafting injury-prone players in other fantasy formats. Will you still use a first-round pick on Joel Embiid or Ja Morant, to name two players with prior injury issues? Probably not, but managers will be better positioned to compensate for a player missing time in High Score.

While the High Score format will take some getting used to, it’s a relatively simple deal from a scoring standpoint. The substitution situation and what that can do to weekly scoring may take many managers the most time to get used to, possibly losing a matchup or two. With these rules in mind, I recently entered a draft, hoping to craft a team that could do some damage in the High Score format.

I picked from the second slot in a 10-round snake draft, kicking things off with San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama. Below is how the draft played out.

Round 1

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

F,C

Nikola Jokić

Denver Nuggets

2

F,C

Victor Wembanyama

San Antonio Spurs

3

G

Luka DonÄić

Los Angeles Lakers

4

G

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Oklahoma City Thunder

5

F,C

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Milwaukee Bucks

6

G

Cade Cunningham

Detroit Pistons

7

G

Anthony Edwards

Minnesota Timberwolves

8

G 

Devin Booker

Phoenix Suns

9

F,C

Anthony Davis

Dallas Mavericks

10

G

Trae Young

Atlanta Hawks

Round 2

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

G

James Harden

LA Clippers 

2

G

Stephen Curry

Golden State Warriors

3

F,C

Kevin Durant

Houston Rockets

4

F,C

Karl-Anthony Towns

New York Knicks

5

G 

Tyrese Maxey

Philadelphia 76ers

6

G

Donovan Mitchell

Cleveland Cavaliers

7

G,F,C

Amen Thompson

Houston Rockets

8

F,C

Jalen Johnson

Atlanta Hawks

9

F,C

Alperen Şengün

Houston Rockets

10

F,C

Evan Mobley

Cleveland Cavaliers

Round 3

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

G

LaMelo Ball

Charlotte Hornets

2

G

Jalen Brunson

New York Knicks

3

F,C

Domantas Sabonis

Sacramento Kings

4

G,F,C

Scottie Barnes

Toronto Raptors

5

G

Josh Giddey

Chicago Bulls

6

F,C

Chet Holmgren

Oklahoma City Thunder

7

F,C

Jaylen Brown

Boston Celtics

8

F,C

Jalen Williams

Oklahoma City Thunder

9

F,C

Pascal Siakam

Indiana Pacers

10

G

Jamal Murray

Denver Nuggets

Round 4

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

F,C

Jaren Jackson Jr.

Memphis Grizzlies

2

F,C

LeBron James

Los Angeles Lakers

3

F,C

Bam Adebayo

Miami Heat

4

G 

Derrick White

Boston Celtics 

5

F,C

Paolo Banchero

Orlando Magic

6

F,C

Franz Wagner

Orlando Magic

7

F,C

Trey Murphy

New Orleans Pelicans

8

G 

Austin Reaves

Los Angeles Lakers

9

G,F,C

Dyson Daniels

Atlanta Hawks

10

G 

Deâ€Aaron Fox

San Antonio Spurs 

Round 5

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

F,C

Zion Williamson

New Orleans Pelicans

2

F,C

Joel Embiid

Philadelphia 76ers

3

F,C

Jimmy Butler

Golden State Warriors

4

F,C

Ivica Zubac

LA Clippers

5

G,F,C

Desmond Bane

Orlando Magic

6

F,C

Brandon Miller

Charlotte Hornets

7

F,C

Kawhi Leonard

LA Clippers

8

F,C

Deni Avdija

Portland Trail Blazers

9

F,C

Kristaps Porziņģis

Atlanta Hawks

10

F,C

Cooper Flagg

Dallas Mavericks

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Round 6

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

F,C

Myles Turner

Milwaukee Bucks

2

G

Ja Morant

Memphis Grizzlies

3

G,F,C

Brandon Ingram

Toronto Raptors

4

F,C

Miles Bridges

Charlotte Hornets

5

F,C

Walker Kessler

Utah Jazz

6

F,C

Nikola VuÄević

Chicago Bulls

7

G

Darius Garland

Cleveland Cavaliers

8

F,C

DeMar DeRozan

Sacramento Kings

9

F,C

OG Anunoby

New York Knicks

10

F,C

Lauri Markkanen

Utah Jazz

Round 7

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

F,C

Jalen Duren

Detroit Pistons

2

G,F,C

Cam Thomas

Brooklyn Nets

3

G 

Zach LaVine

Sacramento Kings

4

F,C

Deandre Ayton

Los Angeles Lakers

5

G 

Coby White

Chicago Bulls

6

F,C

Jarrett Allen

Cleveland Cavaliers

7

G 

Immanuel Quickley

Toronto Raptors

8

G 

Tyler Herro

Miami Heat

9

G 

Jordan Poole

New Orleans Pelicans

10

G 

Payton Pritchard

Boston Celtics

Round 8

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

G

Andrew Nembhard

Indiana Pacers

2

F,C

Julius Randle

Minnesota Timberwolves

3

F,C

Isaiah Hartenstein

Oklahoma City Thunder

4

F,C

Rudy Gobert

Minnesota Timberwolves

5

F,C

Jakob Poeltl

Toronto Raptors

6

F,C

Mark Williams

Phoenix Suns

7

F,C

Matas Buzelis

Chicago Bulls

8

G,F,C

Paul George

Philadelphia 76ers

9

G,F,C

Shaedon Sharpe

Portland Trail Blazers

10

F,C

Michael Porter Jr.

Brooklyn Nets

Round 9

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

G,F,C

Bennedict Mathurin

Indiana Pacers

2

F,C

Ausar Thompson

Detroit Pistons

3

F,C

Donovan Clingan

Portland Trail Blazers

4

F,C

Mikal Bridges

New York Knicks

5

G,F,C

Christian Braun

Denver Nuggets

6

G

Jalen Green

Phoenix Suns

7

G,F,C

Norman Powell

Miami Heat

8

G

Anfernee Simons

Boston Celtics

9

G,F,C

Bradley Beal

LA Clippers

10

G,F,C

Devin Vassell

San Antonio Spurs

Round 10

Position(s)

Player

Team

1

F,C

Cameron Johnson

Denver Nuggets

2

F,C

John Collins

LA Clippers

3

F,C

Draymond Green

Golden State Warriors

4

F,C

Alex Sarr

Washington Wizards

5

F,C

Kelâ€el Ware

Miami Heat 

6

F,C

Dereck Lively II

Dallas Mavericks

7

G

Kevin Porter Jr.

Milwaukee Bucks

8

F,C

Onyeka Okongwu

Atlanta Hawks

9

F,C

RJ Barrett

Toronto Raptors

10

F,C

Naz Reid

Minnesota Timberwolves

Final team:

F,C Victor Wembanyama
F,C Alperen Şengün
G Jalen Brunson
G,F,C Dyson Daniels
F,C Joel Embiid
F,C OG Anunoby
G,F,C Cam Thomas
G,F,C Shaedon Sharpe
F,C Ausar Thompson
F,C RJ Barrett

Drafting a player of Wembanyama’s caliber who can offer elite value in all five scoring categories opens things up regarding crafting your High Score team. I leaned toward offense with Åžengün and Brunson, but Daniels was a must-have for me in the fourth round. Even with the second pick of the fifth round, I was unwilling to risk losing out on a defender of his caliber, especially after he racked up 229 steals and 55 blocked shots in 2024-25.

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The back half of my draft focused primarily on players capable of putting in an explosive offensive performance, especially Thomas and Sharpe. The former is entering a contract year on a rebuilding team, while the latter is under similar pressure in Portland. Thompson hasn’t been an explosive offensive option in Detroit, but I believe in what he brings to the table defensively. And with Jaden Ivey out to begin the regular season, there may be more room for Thompson to spread his wings as a slasher within the Pistons’ offense.

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