Cooper Flagg Drops 51 — First Teenager to Score 50 in NBA History

Cooper Flagg doesn't care about your Rookie of the Year straw polls. The 19-year-old Mavericks rookie dropped 51 points on Friday night against Orlando, becoming the first teenager in NBA history to score 50 in a game. Read that again. First. Ever.

Flagg erupted for 24 points in the fourth quarter alone — after coach Jason Kidd and forward Naji Marshall were ejected arguing a no-call on a Desmond Bane foul. With no one else to lean on, Flagg just... took over.

This was his second time breaking his own teen scoring record after putting up 49 against Charlotte in January. He's now joined Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history with multiple 45-point games as rookies. Carmelo Anthony, who had Kon Knueppel as his ROTY pick, publicly switched to Flagg after this performance. The race is officially on — ESPN's latest poll still has Knueppel leading 80-20 in first-place votes, but after nights like this, that gap is closing fast.