Every time Cooper Flagg steps on the court, his rookie season reaches deeper into NBA history, producing numbers that simply shouldn’t be possible for a 19-year-old. Following the Dallas Mavericks’ 138-127 loss to the Orlando Magic on Friday, Flagg made history by becoming the youngest player ever to score 50 points in a game. In doing so, he broke his own record of 49 points, which he had set earlier this season against the Charlotte Hornets.
The No. 1 overall pick is certainly living up to the hype, leading all NBA rookies in points (20.3 ppg), second in assists (4.5 apg) and third in rebounds (6.6 rpg). With all these incredible numbers and a sensational campaign, the entire NBA community was drooling over Cooper Flagg’s performance against Orlando and in awe of his numbers this season.
Flagg’s teammate, Naji Marshal, also spoke highly of him, calling him the ‘best rookie ever’. After the game, Marshal took to X to post multiple tweets, reiterating his feelings on why Flagg deserves to win the Rookie of the Year honor.
Here are the tweets:
“Season could be better but Coop ROY respectfully!!!”
“Might be best rookie ever”
“Hard to appreciate greatness while going thru hard times but that boy is 1 of none”
“No Glaze tho jus speaking facts”
The Rookie of the Year race might be shaping up as a two-way battle between Flagg and his former Duke teammate, Kon Kuppel. While the Hornets rookie might have a better team record along with a quietly impressive season, it’s hard to ignore the significant impact Flagg has had in Dallas despite the team’s rollercoaster season. Regardless of how the voting unfolds, both players have put the league on notice with standout performances in their rookie season.
Cooper Flagg Has Much More to Say About Mavs’ Losing Season
Despite Cooper Flagg’s individual accomplishments in his rookie season, the Mavericks’ overall performance has been disastrous. He admitted that so many losses have taken a mental toll on him.
“It’s definitely tough,” Flagg said on the Old Man and The Three podcast recently. “There were times at the start of the year where it was taking a big toll on me, not personally, but mentally. I don’t want to speak for anybody else, but it’s definitely tough. My family’s freaking out, especially my mom. She hadn’t seen me lose that much before, so she’s worried about me. And then it’s just like you’re trying to move on each night, but it’s tough.”
But he didn’t lean on the losses as an excuse. Instead, he saw it as part of the reality of life in the NBA.
“You’ve got to learn how to lose, I think, and take positives away. You have to know that you might have another game tomorrow, or you get one day and then another one the next day. That was a big learning curve for me, learning how to lose, how to bounce back a little quicker, and kind of get over it quicker than previous. I mean, we lost four games last year in college and every time we lost, we had four or five days in between to go through all the film, you start working on drills from the game, like different things that you have to work on. So, it’s just definitely a different feeling and you got to learn how to lose.”
Flagg delivered a steady performance for the Mavericks this season. He carried the bulk of the workload while the team missed key players due to injuries, playing different roles, logging team highs in games played, minutes, and starts, and often looking every bit the part of a long-term answer for the franchise. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. He knows what the role demands and is learning how to shoulder it.
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