Mavs' Flagg surpasses LeBron: New points record at 18 years old

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Cooper Flagg has written a page in NBA history during the consecutive games of the Dallas Mavericks against the Los Angeles teams. On Friday night, Flagg dished out 11 assists, the most for an 18-year-old player, in the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Twenty-four hours later, Flagg became the youngest player to score 35 points in a game, a feat that was even more satisfying as he led an injury-riddled Dallas team to a 114-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome.

He’s only 18 years old, but it seems like he’s been in this league before. He did everything tonight. He had the ball. You can call him a point guard or whatever, but he ran the offense for us. He drove the ball. The ball touched the paint. He got to the rim, got to the free throw line, stepped up and made free throws for us at the end. Just his composure on both ends [was impressive]. He competes at a very high level. You saw that tonight, but you also saw it last night.
Jason Kidd, Mavericks Coach

The only other 18-year-old player to score 35 points in an NBA game is LeBron James, who did it twice as a rookie for the Cleveland Cavaliers in December 2023. James’ first 35-point game occurred when he was 18 years and 348 days old, five days older than Flagg on Saturday night. The highlight of Flagg’s scoring night, which was a career high, was a spectacular drive and two-handed dunk over Clippers center Ivica Zubac. Flagg relentlessly attacked the basket throughout the game, going 13 of 22 from the field, with eight baskets from within ten feet of the hoop.

Being aggressive right now is obviously the right thing for me, and that’s what the coach has emphasized to me. I have to be aggressive, and we’ll live with some of the mistakes, but you just have to be aggressive and trust all the work. My teammates trust me a lot, and I feel that. And when they trust me, it allows me to be free up there.
Cooper Flagg

Flagg, who had struggled in the second night of his previous back-to-back games, started the game strong, scoring 12 points in the first quarter and 21 in the first half. He also finished strong, keeping his composure after a couple of costly turnovers in the final quarter to score eight points in the final 2 minutes and 47 seconds.

Cooper’s potential is limitless. He has all the tools to be great. Sometimes I can’t believe he’s supposed to be a freshman in college.
Klay Thompson, Mavericks Player

It was Flagg’s most veteran teammate, 35-year-old Thompson, who made sure the rookie, the number 1 pick, had the opportunity to close out the game against the Clippers. Thompson scored 17 of his 23 points in the final quarter, the kind of impressive streak he was famous for while playing on four championship teams with the Golden State Warriors. Thompson, who was briefly listed as out due to right knee pain on Saturday’s official injury report before changing his mind after swimming in the ocean, went 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-6 from the 3-point line in the final quarter. His 28-foot shot with 1:52 remaining gave the Mavericks the final lead.

It felt like a relief. I haven’t shot the ball well in these first 20 games, at least not for my standards. So when you have a night like that after the difficult start we’ve had, it just gives you relief to keep going. It really inspires me to be out there as much as I can.
Klay Thompson, Mavericks Player

It’s been a tough start for Thompson and the Mavericks, who received more bad news a couple of minutes before the tip-off when starting forward P.J. Washington landed on a basketball and twisted his right ankle. Washington joined Kyrie Irving (knee surgery), Anthony Davis (calf injury management), Daniel Gafford (ankle injury management), and Dereck Lively II (foot) as key Mavericks players who were unavailable against the Clippers. Despite the bad luck the Mavericks have had, they got incredibly lucky when they got Flagg by winning the draft lottery despite only having a 1.8% chance.