Mere hours after a straw poll of NBA media members said Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel was firmly in the lead for the NBA Rookie of the Year award as the 2025-26 season winds down, Cooper Flagg made a closing argument that would put Perry Mason to shame.
Flagg poured in 38 of his game-high 51 points in the second half on Friday in a 138-127 loss to the Orlando Magic at American Airlines Center. It was jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring stuff. He had the same determined look on his face after starting
the game with a pedestrian five points in the first quarter that he featured in that dazzling 49-point display on Jan. 29 against Knueppel and the Hornets. Flagg set a new record for single-game scoring by a teenager in an NBA that night, then broke it on Friday to hammer home
Flagg made 6-of-9 from 3-point range, five of which came in the second half, against the Magic. He recorded three steals on the defensive end. But most of all, his performance proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a straw poll with six regular-season games still left on the schedule is an imperfect endeavor. He left no shadow of a doubt on Friday who should be named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year.
It has to be Flagg.
“I would hope it helps,” Flagg said when asked how his 51-point explosion should factor into his chances at winning the Rookie of the Year award. “But I’m not going to worry about that. I’m just going to worry about getting better every single night.”
At 19 years and 105 days, Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to record a 50-point game and just the third rookie to do it since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976. Brandon Jennings scored 55 for the Milwaukee Bucks against the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 14, 2009, and Allen Iverson scored 50 for the Philadelphia 76ers on April 12, 1997 at the Cleveland Cavaliers. If his current season averages hold through the final five regular-season games of the year, Flagg will become just the fourth rookie to average more than 20 points, more than six rebounds and more than four assists per game, after Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Luka Dončic all did it in their first years. He joined Jordan as just the second rookie to have multiple 45-point games since the merger as well.
He dwarfed his 14-point effort in the third quarter on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor with an astronomical fourth quarter against the Magic. He was an absolute maniac getting to the rim, but also made 2-of-3 from distance in the frame. He nuked Orlando for 24 points in the fourth on 11-of-18 shooting overall, then got a bottled water shower in the locker room after an 11-point loss, which felt a little weird.
We’ll excuse the awkwardness because, honestly, what’s the appropriate response to a night like Friday, when every Maverick not named Cooper Flagg combined to shoot 25-of-65 (38.5%) from the floor? At least it shows that the kid owns that locker room, as he damn well should.
Flagg scored 10 straight points for the Mavs in a span of less than two minutes early in the third, including a step-back 3-pointer with just over nine minutes left in the frame to put him at 23 points on the night. Two free throws and a pull-up jumper late in the third put him at 27 points entering the fourth and gave Flagg his 18th game of 25 or more points in his rookie year and before turning 20, passing Dončić, who had 17 games of 25 or more points as a teen. But that was just an appetizer.
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd was ejected early in the fourth quarter after arguing a non-call that should have been whistled for a foul on Desmond Bane, who tugged on Flagg’s elbow following a shot attempt. Flagg scored all 24 of his fourth-quarter points after the ejection in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Flagg’s stop-and-pop 3-pointer from the right wing with 9:45 left to play put him at the 30-point mark, and that’s when he detonated. The next time down, he dropped the hammer on a high-flying dunk over Paolo Banchero. Two possessions after that, Flagg nailed his fourth 3-ball of the game, this time from the left wing to force a Magic timeout with the Mavericks trailing 123-102.
The one hole in Flagg’s game across his rookie season has been his jumpshot. His six 3-pointers on Friday are the latest evidence that he has what it takes to plug that hole in short order. And when he does, the NBA is on notice. He’s going to be the best player in the league.
Scoff at the fact that his final 21 points came in “junk time” against an Orlando team that had lost eight of its last 10 coming into Friday’s game at your own peril. Flagg is the realest of real deals, but we’ve known that for quite some time. He spun for a hoop and the harm inside over Jamal Cain with 2:05 left to play, then flopped to the ground with his arms extended overhead, in relief after reaching the 50-point peak. The ensuing free throw put Flagg at 51 points for the game, elevating Flagg to even more rarified air than he already occupied.
The kid is a monster, and he should be the NBA’s Rookie of the Year. He now owns the three top-scoring single games (51, 49, 42) by a rookie this year and five of the top eight.
“Well he’s a rookie, he should be Rookie of the Year,” Kidd said in his postgame press conference. “It’s unbelievable, the country is not watching the same thing that we get to watch on a daily basis. The things that he’s done, he’s in rare air, he’s with the GOAT when you talk about MJ and what he did in his rookie year, and as a teenager. And so to see what Cooper’s doing, just the excitement, the joy of playing the game. Win or lose, his spirit is about winning, and right now we’re not, but as he just said in the locker room, we’re just gonna be that much better come next season.”
I’d say case closed, but he’s still got five chances left to do something special again.
