Cooper Flagg tied LeBron James for a crazy NBA record
The Dallas Mavericks he may not be getting too many games at the moment, but the good news is that Cooper Flagg seems to be hitting his stride. Flagg, despite the Mavericks’ 116-114 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night, had his best game yet as a pro. He recorded a career-high 26 points to go along with nine rebounds, four assists and two steals – leading his team to scoring.
In doing so, the Mavericks rookie made a bit of history. As pointed out by ESPN’s Tim McMahon, Flagg tied LeBron James as the youngest rookie in NBA history, at 18 years, 324 days, to score 25 points or more in a single game.
What makes this even more amazing is that Flagg’s thumb was sprained (according to him). The Mavericks rookie’s thumb was heavily wrapped, but he still had the best game of his short NBA career so far.
The sky’s the limit for Flagg, and his early-season struggles with shooting the basketball shouldn’t be too concerning for his long-term prospects. Even James had his fair share of mulberry to start his career. In the first 10 games of James’ career, he had nights where he shot 3-12 and 3-11 (twice) from the field.
Even then, James became arguably the greatest basketball player to ever grace planet Earth. While it would take Flagg a lot to follow in James’ footsteps, the early season panic surrounding him is a bit over the top, as it should only be a matter of time before he hits his stride.
The Mavericks have a chance to do what LeBron James’ Cavs couldn’t
James became so good, so fast for the Cleveland Cavaliers that they couldn’t surround him with other young talent that he could grow with. But this Mavericks team is not good – not even close. So this gives them a chance to possibly compete for the top pick next year, what with Darrin Peterson, AJ Dibantsa and Cameron Boozer all set to enter the league.
Tanking might be the best way for the Mavericksas painful as it is to wait another terrible year after the terrible trade of Luka Doncic.
2025-11-11 06:15:00
