Cooper Flagg keeps piling up nights that feel bigger than his age.
On Monday, the 19-year-old Dallas Mavericks forward powered a 125-122 win over the Indiana Pacers with 43 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Dallas was on the second night of a back-to-back, and Flagg still took over.
The performance put him in a lane no teenager has ever occupied. According to StatMuse, Flagg became the first teenage player in NBA history to post at least 40 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals in a game. He also logged his seventh 35-point game, and that total ties LeBron James for the most by a teenager, according to Screwball NBA on X.
Flagg won’t turn 20 until December 21, but he’s already stacked up numbers that place him alongside some of the league’s biggest names. James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and arguably the greatest player of all-time, is in that group, along with Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.
Dallas is riding the wave with him. The Mavericks are 7-4 after sweeping both games of this back-to-back, and Flagg’s rise has them looking like a team that can chase a postseason spot this season, health permitting.
That’s a sharp turn from where things stood not long ago. The Mavericks traded away Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and other spare parts, then later moved Davis for more scraps, a sequence that left the franchise in a rough spot and underscored how badly the Doncic deal went.
Now Flagg is giving Dallas a fresh path forward. The 19-year-old has become the centerpiece of the franchise’s turnaround, and if this climb keeps going, the Mavericks may not be far from real contention for the Larry O’Brien trophy.
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The latest reminder came in a big scoring night against Indiana, when Flagg poured in 43 points and helped push Dallas to another win. The performance only added to the sense that his ceiling is rising fast, with talk already centering on his All-Star potential and his importance to the Mavericks long-term plans. For a team trying to sort out its direction, Flagg is making the future look a lot more immediate. [Read more 🡒]